


Giganta

by laxit21, mewmew666



Category: Arrow (TV 2012), The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Drama, Felicity gets powers, Humor, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, olicity au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-23
Updated: 2019-06-13
Packaged: 2019-06-15 03:32:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 45
Words: 48,209
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15404031
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/laxit21/pseuds/laxit21, https://archiveofourown.org/users/mewmew666/pseuds/mewmew666
Summary: When Ray Palmer disappeared, Felicity was determined to figure out what happened to him. Felicity Smoak was tinkering with atom tech when it effects her and cause her to slowly grow in size and weight. Now she's in BIG trouble if she can't get the growth under control.





	1. Chapter 1

Felicity was sitting in Ray’s old lab space. Palmer Tech had repaired the damage to the building caused by his accident but hadn’t cleared out the space yet. The blonde hated mystery, so she needed to figure out what really happened that night. All she knew, all he had recorded, was that Ray was working on something to do with the nanotech used to save his life and stop the Alpha Omega virus.

She decided the best place to start was where Ray started and try to recreate his work that night. She was in the middle of tinkering with what Ray called ‘Phase Two nanites’ when someone came into the room.

“What are you doing here?” Curtis asked.

“Science.” She answered. “I wanna know what happened to Ray.”

“Why? I mean, I’m not judging, but-”

“He’s my friend, mysteries bug me, and besides all of that, they didn’t recover a body. Maybe he’s dead, maybe he’s not, but I need to know what happened to him.” Felicity said looking up. “Do you need something?”

“Nope, Mr. Dennis is breathing down my neck for more information about my ‘special project’, but that’s to be expected.” Curtis said. “I take it, if he asks, I haven’t seen you.”

“Go with that feeling.” She answered. Curtis left and she turned back to her task. When she began probing the nanites again, she felt a small electrical shock. “Ow.”

Her phone then started ringing. She noticed it was almost 6pm already, so she stopped her work and put everything away. She headed to the lair and put Ray’s work in the back of her mind for a while.

The next morning, Felicity woke up to her alarm blaring and rolled out of bed. As soon as she moved, she noticed a weird feeling in her stomach. She chalked it up to being hungry and moved on. The floor creaked as she stood up. Oliver was, of course, awake already and down in the kitchen making breakfast.

“Wow, someone was hungry.” Oliver said after Felicity was finished eating.

“What? You make really good, homemade pancakes and a breakfast is the more important meal of the day. Especially on days when I have to deal with the Palmer Tech board.” She defended.

“Fair enough.” Oliver began to clean up breakfast while Felicity went upstairs to get dressed.

“That’s weird.” She said to herself as she zipped her skirt up. It fit her a little more snug than usual.

“What’s weird?” Oliver asked from behind her.

“I thought this skirt was longer.” She said, tugging it down a little. It wasn’t very short, but it definitely was too short to be considered work appropriate. She sighed and dug through her closet for a longer one. When she found one that was long enough, she went searching for a blouse she liked. She tried on her favorite one, but found it was tighter than it used to be. “Great, I’m bloated. I have to make a presentation to the board of directors and I’m bloated. Knew I shouldn’t have had Big Belly last night.”

Oliver, who’d gone into the bathroom earlier, came back out. “You look like the boss.” He said, knowing she wasn’t looking forward to the meeting.

“I am the boss.” She shot back. “And the boss will see you tonight.” She walked over and kissed him goodbye before leaving.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Felicity's 'little problem' starts to get bigger...

Felicity sighed as she got back to her office. Dealing with the Palmer Tech board of directors, especially Mr. Dennis, was always exhausting. They were convinced Felicity was unqualified for the position and most believed a woman couldn’t successfully lead such a large company. The blonde was determined to prove them all wrong. The fact that she wasn’t feeling great during the meeting certainly didn’t help matters.

That evening, she went to the lair, as usual, to find everyone else already down there. They all stopped when she came in.

“Why are you all looking at me like that?” She asked.

“You seem taller.” Oliver said. “And I’m not the only one who’s noticed.”

“I don’t think I’m any taller.” The blonde said. “then again, I wouldn’t really notice if I was a little taller than normal.”

“Come over here.” Digg said beckoning her closer. Shrugging she walked over to him. “You’re definitely taller.”

“How do you know that?”

“Because I’ve never been able to look you in the eyes from this distance unless you wore heel, which you aren’t wearing. You’ve also never been taller than Laurel, but now you are.”

“Ok, that’s….weird. Don’t we have ghosts to catch or something?”

She didn’t like mysteries, and this one concerned her, but she didn’t want to think about that now. Vigilante stuff was a good distraction from her overthinking what might’ve happened when she messed with Ray’s nanotech.

The discussion was dropped, for the moment, and the team got down to business. They werent able to find hide or hair of Darhk, or his ghosts, so the night was overall a bust. Oliver and Felicity were both so exhausted when they returned to the loft that they immediately went to bed and passed out.

When she woke up the next morning, Felicity felt the weird feeling in her stomach again. Once again, when she got out of bed, the floor creaked, although it was noticeably louder this time. She went downstairs to find Oliver, wondering if he’d noticed the floors creaking recently, but stopped in front of the mirror. it wasn’t at her eye level anymore. She also noticed she was puffier than yesterday. A lot puffier. Her face had swollen up like she was having a reaction or something. she was reminded of Violet from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, except not blue. She didn’t think the reflection was real at first. Then, her nose started to itch so she went to scratch it. Looking at her hand, her fingers now looked like sausages and had swollen as well.

She walked down the loft stairs, which had also started creaking when she took another step down it to find her boyfriend in the kitchen.

“Hey, have you noticed-What happened to you?” she asked.

“What do you mean?” Oliver asked with his back to her.

“Turn around.” She said seriously.

The archer did as he was told. He looked down slightly, expecting to see Felicity. Instead he was staring at her chest. Her much larger chest. He immediately looked up. “You grew again.”

“No, you shrunk.” The blonde retorted.

“No, you grew. Which would explain…that.” He gestured down at her body.

“What do you- what happened to my pants?” The loose shirt Felicity had gone to sleep in was now a very tight-fitting crop top and her pajama pants were gone.

“I think you outgrew them.”

“Does this look like a good time to make jokes?” Felicity said, nearing her loud voice.

“I’m not joking. You’re well….you’re bigger today than yesterday. And bigger yesterday than the day before.” He explained. “I just don’t know why.”

“Oh, frack.” She said with a look of realization on her face.

“You know what happened?” he asked, she didn’t react. “You know what happened. What happened?”

“Ray’s nanotech. I was fiddling around with it, trying to figure out what happened to him and-“

“And?”

“I guess they affected me somehow.” She said. she then noticed the time. “Great, I’m late.”

“You can’t go into work like this.” He pointed out.

“I’m the CEO.”

“Make up a meeting or something that you just found out about.” Oliver said. “Star Labs wants another partnership, the CDC wanted a follow-up about the virus Ray’s tech stopped, something.”

“And do what? Sit here and wait until I burst through the roof?” she asked him. “We aren’t really equipped to deal with this sort of thing.”

“We aren’t, Barry on the other hand-“ Oliver said as he pulled out his phone and started texting someone. A few moments later, a red blur came into the apartment.

“Hey, Oliver, Felicity, what’s the- oh.” Barry said upon noticing Felicity. “Now I get the ‘NOW’ part of that text.”

“I figured this is more your area than mine.”

“Stop talking about me like I’m not here!” Felicity said. “Hi, Barry. I kinda need your help, if it wasn’t obvious.”

“I think we need to get to Star Labs. Come on.”

“How am I gonna get there Barry? I can’t exactly get on a train like this without everyone and their uncle staring at me.”

“Like this.” Barry said, running over to pick her up. He lifted her and got a few feet away from where she was before needing to stop. “Oh, I guess that won’t work. You’re too-“

“Don’t you dare say it.” Felicity told him in a deadly tone. “Team Arrow van it is.”

“What the- why the van?”

“It’s the only vehicle I can probably fit in comfortably, or at all.” She said.

“You realize its an 8-hour drive.” Oliver told her.

“Fine, the jet then. Only because who knows how big I’ll be in eight hours.” Felicity said. “I’m really glad you know how to fly a plane right about now.. Let’s get to Central City and get me back to normal.”


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Felicity grows and grows, while everyone else tries to keep up

Felicity, Oliver and Barry got out of the Team Arrow van at the Star City airfield to find Felicity’s private jet waiting on the tarmac already. Felicity had changed into the biggest pair of sweatpants Oliver had and a baggy t-shirt. They were big enough to fit her, for the moment.

“Um, don’t you need a pilot?” Barry asked them.

“Oliver knows how to fly a plane.” The blonde answered. “Have I mentioned how glad I am for that right now?”

“No, you haven’t. but I figured.” The archer responded.

They quickly got on board and Oliver began preparing for take-off. After they were in the air, Felicity’s stomach started to feel tingly suddenly. Then, the tingling turned into a very uncomfortable stab of pain.

“Ugh, I knew I should’ve eaten breakfast before we left.” Felicity lamented when the pain subsided. Barry was staring at her. “What?”

“Um, you-“

Felicity had gotten taller and wider a few seconds ago. He guessed this was another one of her ‘growth spurts’. She was starting to look less like Felicity and more like a Felicity-balloon.  Her entire face was puffy. Her hands, arms and feet looked swollen. Barry thought she looked a little bit like Aunt Marge from the third Harry Potter movie with the way her face had swollen up. Her loose pants were now basically shorts and her stomach was peeking out from underneath the shirt. He also heard a loud ripping noise that he guessed was either a seam of the shirt or the waistband of the pants. Her shoes had also gotten too small for her and fell apart.

“Barry, can you come up here for a second?” Oliver called from the cockpit.

Happy for the excuse, Barry sped over to him. “What’s up?”

“We might not make it to Central City.” The archer told him.

“What? Why?”

Oliver nodded towards one of the gauges. The needle was pointing all the way to the right and a red lightbulb had turned on. It said ‘Warning: Weight Capacity Exceeded’. “That’s why.”

“She grew again, just a second ago.” The speedster admitted.

“How much?”

“I- it was noticeable.” Barry answered.

“Go tell her.”

“What? I can’t. She’s really scary when she’s mad.”

“I need to fly the plane and she needs to know before we land. Tell her.” Oliver said in his Arrow-voice.

Barry walked back to where Felicity was and sat down awkwardly. He didn’t even know how to start the conversation they needed to have.

“I grew again, didn’t I?” Felicity asked. “I mean, you see smaller, my hands look even more swollen and the ripping sound kinda gave it away. And I’m guessing he’s worried.”

“Um, yes. You did.” He answered.

“Great.” The blonde said as she started tearing up.

“We’re gonna figure this out, ok?” he said, trying to reassure her.

She wiped her eyes and nodded.

The rest of the flight was quiet and tense, but thankfully Felicity didn’t have another growth spurt. When they landed in Central City, Caitlin was there waiting for them with a van. She had a confused look on her face as Barry exited the plane, followed by Oliver. Her confusion vanished when she saw Felicity approached the door. She tried to walk out, only to find herself stuck. Oliver turned to help her, but she waved him off. She sucked her stomach in and just forced herself through the doorway. Caitlin’s jaw dropped, but she schooled her features back to normal before the blonde could notice.

“I’m guessing he told you the basics.” Felicity said. She hadn’t seen the doctor react, so she assumed she wasn’t surprised.

“No, he didn’t. He just said to meet him here and bring the Star Labs van.” She answered. “How are you feeling?”

“I don’t wanna get into that right now.”

Barry sped off towards the lab, Oliver and Caitlin got into the front seat of the van and Felicity hopped into the back. The ride to Star Labs was silent. Finally, they arrived. Cisco was in the garage waiting for them.

He saw Felicity get out of the van and started to talk. “Hey, Felicity. Wow, you’ve….grown in the last few months.”

“Does this seem like a good time for jokes?” Oliver asked angrily.

“Let’s go upstairs and talk.” Caitlin suggested. She, Oliver and Cisco got into the elevator. Felicity was too big to fit, so she had to take the stairs.

“Ok, I think we can all see why we’re here.” Barry said. “Um, I guess we kinda need to know what happened.”

“I was working with messing around with Ray’s nanotech. He was working with it the night he- the night of the accident. I was hoping by recreating his work that night to figure out what happened. Someone came in to speak with me. When I turned back to my work, I got a small electric shock. The next day, I woke up a little bloated and a few inches taller. Today, I woke up and I was a lot bigger and wider.” She said. “Then, it happened again on the plane.” She gestured down to where her sweatpants had become very tight-fitting shorts and the once baggy t-shirt was riding up.

“First things first, we need to do a physical.” Caitlin said. “Make sure whatever’s happening isn’t compromising your interior organs.”

“I don’t suppose you have anything that might fit me first?” Felicity said. They were her friends, but she was embarrassed with the way she looked right now. She was one wrong move away from busting out of her clothing.

“Gimme ten minutes.” Cisco said, walking towards the door. “If I can make Barry’s suit, I can make something that should grow with you.” He came back fifteen minutes later with a bundle of fabric, claiming it could stretch to ten feet tall and just as wide. Felicity wasn’t sure if she believed him.

“C’mon Felicity.” Caitlin said, ushering her over to the medical wing.

They went through an extensive checklist. Caitlin took blood. They did a EKG and a dozen other tests. Felicity’s reflexes and vitals all seemed normal or within normal range. Her size aside, she seemed perfectly healthy. There were only two more things Caitlin needed to measure: height and weight. She had Felicity stand against a wall and used a computer program to calculate her current height.

“Seven feet, eight inches.” Caitlin said to herself as she wrote it down.

“I’m sorry, did you just say seven feet? I’m seven feet tall?”

“Closer to eight, actually.” She admitteded. “Now, we need to weigh you.”

Felicity stepped on the scale. Caitlin didn’t, and would never, tell her but the scale was used to weigh gorillas used in Star Labs’ old experiments. The doctor’s eyes widened slightly as the scale read out the weight.

“Can you tell me what it says?” Felicity said in a quiet voice. “I- my stomach’s in the way and I can’t see it.”

“I don’t wanna say it. I think it will upset you.”

“Oh.”

The tingling sensation Felicity felt on the plane returned. Then, the pain started. Then, Felicity noticed two things: both Caitlin and the room seemed smaller. “I just grew again, didn’t I?”

“Yeah. Be careful when you move, your taller than the ceiling.”

“Great! That’s just fantastic. I’m gonna burst through the roof before nightfall at this rate.”

“That’s it.” Caitlin said. “I need to go get the others.” She left the room. a few minutes later, Barry, Cisco, Oliver and Caitlin came back into the room.

“You grew again.” was all the archer could say.

“Her growth rate is increasing. The amount she grows by is also increasing.” Caitlin said matter-of-factly. “I haven’t been able to run any blood tests yet, but-“

“Can we move this to somewhere else please?” Felicity interrupted. “it’s just- I’m getting a little claustrophobic.”

“Pipeline?” Cisco asked.

“Pipeline.” Barry agreed.

“How’s putting me in a cell gonna help? I’m not a metahuman.”

“No, the actual particle accelerator space. It has a 30-foot ceiling. You won’t have to be all cramped in there.” Barry explained.

“Oh, right.” Felicity said calming down.

A few hours and a growth spurt later, Caitlin and Felicity were talking. They hadn’t found a way to reverse Felicity’s growth yet, but there were still a number of options they wanted to run the numbers on before they tested them. Felicity had outgrown Cisco’s miracle stretchy-suit and they’d resorted to having her wrap the fabric itself around her like a toga. That way she was at least somewhat dressed. Her face and head were starting to look more like a parade balloon than an actual person.

“How are you feeling?” Caitlin asked. “You never answered.”

“I’m huge, I’m bloated. I keep outgrowing my clothes and I weigh I’m guessing several tons. My hands are the size of a small child and my feet are huge. I think if I get any bigger, I’m gonna explode.”

“Umm, about that-“ Cisco said walking into the pipeline. “We’ve got a problem.”


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Attack of the 50-story woman

“How are you feeling?” Caitlin asked. “You never answered.”

“I’m huge, I’m bloated. I keep outgrowing my clothes and I weigh I’m guessing several tons. My hands are the size of a small child and my feet are huge. I think if I get any bigger, I’m gonna explode.”

“Umm, about that-“ Cisco said walking into the pipeline. “We’ve got a problem.”

“What kind of problem?” Felicity asked. she needed to know but was also terrified to find out how the situation could get any worse.

“You can’t grow like this forever. We don’t know everything about Ray’s tech, but even that has to have limits.” Cisco said. “The problem is what happens when you reach said limit.”

“Which is?”

“If you reach a certain size, you’ll hit critical mass and explode.”

“Great, I’m actually gonna explode.”

“That’s not all.” Cisco continued. “It’s called ‘atom tech’ right? The accident, it’s effecting your atoms. So when you hit critical mass, they’ll all start to split, releasing a huge amount of atomic energy.”

“So when I explode, its gonna be just like a nuclear bomb went off.” Felicity said. “Please tell me you’ve found a way to undo this.”

“I- we’re- not yet.” He admitted.

 As if on cue, Felicity felt the tingling sensation in her stomach. Cisco and Caitlin both heard a faint rumbling noise. She felt her skin stretch and her bones start to ache as they grew. Her cheeks became even rounder, like a chipmunk. She was beginning to resemble a bowling ball. Her hands were now bigger than a human and her feet were the size of cars. The bundle of fabric wrapped around her stomach rode up, leaving her huge belly on display. She tried to pull her ‘shirt’ down, trying to hide it, unsuccessfully.

“Can you hurry it up, please?” the blonde asked. “Pretty sure I’m one more growth away from destroying your roof.” She felt embarrassed about how large she was before they landed in Central City, now her embarrassment was getting worse with each growth spurt. She felt like a beached whale. She wanted to be back to normal. Now.

Cisco came back half an hour later with Barry. He had an idea. If they could zap Felicity with a charge similar to the one she felt during the accident, the two static charges would cancel each other out and felicity would go back to normal. Barry did as Cisco instructed and zapped Felicity with a huge amount of static. It didn’t work. A few minutes later, Felicity grew again, destroying the roof of Star Labs.

Cisco then came up with the idea of injecting some of Ray’s nanites into Felicity. He was certain that, since they caused her growth, they could also reverse its effects. A few moments after the injection, Felicity grew again. This time, she was basically a giant sphere. No one on Team Flash wanted to say it, but the next time she grew, it likely would be the last time. To make matters worse, camera crews and government planes starting appearing outside Star Labs a few minutes after the most recent growth spurt. 

* * *

  **Star City**

Team Arrow, minus Oliver and Felicity of course, were gathered around one of the blonde’s computers looking at the live feed from Central City.

“Citizens are panicking at the arrival of the large, naked woman who has appeared in Star Labs.” A reporter said. “There’s speculation that the mystery woman is a metahuman working with the Flash, although nothing has been corroborated. The CCPD is urging caution from citizen and the need to remain calm. The government hasn’t released a statement, but they have a number of aircrafts surrounding the woman to prevent any attempts to attack the city on her part. We go now to Adam Stevens in the field. Adam?”

“Thank you, Bob. This woman, who the citizens have named Giganta, appeared roughly fifteen minutes ago. No one’s been able to get close enough to her to measure her, but experts are claiming her height to be roughly 50 stories tall. A source within Star Labs says there are concerns about how much bigger she can get. There’s been no news as to the woman’s identity, but we’re hoping it will be revealed soon.”

“Oh my god. Felicity.” Digg said as the broadcast went to commercial.

“What about her?”

“The giant woman is Felicity.” He explained.

“How do you?”

“There was a scar on the woman’s back. It’s the same place as the scar Felicity got from the Clock King.”

“She’s- I mean- she’s gonna be okay right? Barry and his friends are gonna figure out how to get her back to normal, right?” Laurel asked.

“I hope so.”

* * *

  **Central City**

Felicity was tapping down the urge to knock one of the helicopters away from her face when a red blur ran up to the roof of Star Labs.

She was 50 stories tall and about 500 feet wide. She looked like a giant parade balloon-slash- human bowling ball. She was a giant Felicity-sphere, with ginormous hands, and feet attached. Her stomach was on full, unobstructed display and she was starting to hope some deity would take pity on her and kill her already. The cameras, and everyone watching to broadcast, were staring at her like she was an animal at a zoo. She felt embarrassed, exposed and every time another news chopper started to circle her, she wanted to cry a little more.

The tingling sensation she felt with every growth wasn’t as easy to miss or inconspicuous as it was two days ago. It had started getting so loud everyone could hear it. To make matters worse, since the last growth spurt, her stomach had been making a constant grumbling and bubbling sound. If she was her original size, she would’ve thought it was just upset. Now however, she was worried about what those noises could mean. She could tell some of the government personnel were concerned as well. when the noise started, the jets all noticeably moved further away from her, like they were expecting something to happen.

“How you doing?” the speedster asked.

“I’m naked in front of several million people. What do you think?”

“Fair enough. We might- Cisco thinks he found another solution.”

“Did he run all the numbers twice?”

“Yeah.”

“Have him do it again.” Felicity said. “Can you get Oliver?”

“Yeah. Why?”

“I need to- I don’t think I’ve got a lot of time.” She said. “I need to say goodbye. Just in case.”

“Don’t talk like that-“

“No, I- I need to talk to him. Please go get him.” she asked.

Barry nodded and returned with Oliver a few seconds later. Felicity picked Oliver up and moved him closer to her face.

“I’m sorry.” She told him. “This is- it’s all my fault.”

“No, no it isn’t. You wanted closure on what happened to Ray. It’s not your fault.”

“It is though. I shouldn’t have tried to recreate what happened. I shouldn’t have- I love you, so much.” She told him. “I want you to remember that, no matter what.”

Felicity hadn’t told Oliver that, unless they stopped her growing, she was going to die. As far as she knew, Barry hadn’t either. She out him back down on the roof and Barry sped him inside.

“Why did it sound like she was saying goodbye?” he asked the speedster.

“She didn’t tell you? Ollie, she can’t expand forever. If she reaches a certain size, she’s gonna explode.” He admitted.

Oliver was about to respond when Cisco came charging into the room. “Aha, got it. I ran the numbers a billion times, cross-checked with Caitlin’s work and factored in her growth rate. This should get Felicty back to normal.”

“Should?” Oliver asked in his arrow voice.

“Will. Will get her back to normal. There’s just one problem.”

“Which is?”

“She has to ingest it.” Cisco said. “And I don’t know how to get it into her mouth.”

“I’ll do it.” Oliver said. “I can….shoot it into her mouth. Don’t ever tell her I said this, but she’s got a very big mouth.”

“What if you miss though?” Cisco asked. “I’m sorry, but you’ve missed before.”

“I’ve got it.” Barry said. “I’ll run it into her mouth. How long does it take to work?”

“I designed it so that as soon as it interacts with saliva it starts to take effect, so about five seconds.”

“Uh, guys?” Caitlin said. “You might wanna look out the window.”

Felicity was in the middle of growing again. Her stomach was slowly expanding and they could hear metal crunching as it pushed parts of the building out of the way. The rumbling noise emitting from her stomach was near deafening.

Barry grabbed the vial from Cisco and ran faster than he’d ever run in his life. He ran straight up Felicity’s leg and soon found himself on her face. “I’m really sorry about this.” He said as he shoved Cisco’s cure into her mouth.

The rumblings from her stomach got even louder. Everyone waited with baited breath to see what would happen.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The explosive next chapter

**Central City**

Felicity was in the middle of growing again. Her stomach was slowly expanding and they could hear metal crunching as it pushed parts of the building out of the way. The rumbling noise emitting from her stomach was near deafening.

Barry grabbed the vial from Cisco and ran faster than he’d ever run in his life. He ran straight up Felicity’s leg and soon found himself on her face. “I’m really sorry about this.” He said as he shoved Cisco’s cure into her mouth.

The rumblings from her stomach got even louder. Everyone waited with baited breath to see what would happen. It was silent, then the rumbling got even louder. Felicity was expanding, getting bigger and bigger, the helicopters and military jets all thought she was about to explode, then nothing.

One second Felicity was the size of a skyscraper, the next, she was gone. Barry fell to the ground, as he’d been standing on her head. Cisco, Oliver and Caitlin all ran down to the pipeline. They got down there, only to find a bundle of fabric moving around on the floor.

Oliver heard the pile whisper “Oh, frack” and began trying to pull the cloth away.

“Felicity?”

“Oliver?” she said. “Little help?”

“I’m trying, honey.” Oliver said. he finally managed to pull the cloth off of her face. “How are you feeling?”

“Ok, I guess. Hungry. Also, now I know how balloons feel when they get deflated.” The blonde joked. “And I’m kinda naked.” Someone, probably Caitlin, handed her a pile of clothing. She then turned to Barry and his friends. “Thanks for you know, helping cure me and not blow up.”

“We’re gonna talk about that later.” Oliver said.

“You’re welcome.” Caitlin and Barry both said.

“Um, about that, you’re…..not actually cured.” Cisco said, scared of the reaction.

“I’m not?”

“No, we couldn’t- it didn’t reverse what happened in the accident. What that serum did was give the ability to control your…size.” He said.

“So, I’m stuck like this?!” She asked exasperated. As she yelled, she seemed to get slightly larger.

“Yes, and it looks like you grow when you’re angry.” Cisco remarked.

“Felicity, look at me okay?” Oliver said walking up to her. She was able to look him directly in the eye. “I need you to breathe.”

The blonde did as he asked and felt herself get smaller.

* * *

 

**ARGUS HQ**

Amanda Waller turned off the screen when the live broadcast ended. The giant woman in Central City, Giganta as the public had dubbed her, was no longer an active threat. Still, Waller was intrigued by the turn of events. An operative with those skills could prove useful. Even if that operative was Oliver Queen’s girlfriend.

“Adams, give Johnson a call.” She ordered. “Tell him to expect me in Central City within the hour.” She and Felicity Smoak needed to have a chat.

* * *

 

**Central City**

After Felicity shrunk, again, Caitlin pulled her into the lab to run some tests. She was back to her original height, all of her internal organs seemed to be in perfect condition and her bloodwork looked clear. Felicity had some extra weight around her stomach, but nothing too noticeable or concerning. There was one thing, though, that was still drastically different.

“That’s odd.” Caitlin said, looking at the scale.

“What is?”

“Your height and other measurements returned to normal or within normal range. Except one.” the doctor said. “Your weight is still remarkably high.”

“How high? 200? 300?”

“Higher. It’s roughly the same as the last time I measured it. You lost the physical size, but not much of the weight.”

“Great. I look normal but I weigh several tons.” Felicity remarked.

“This could be temporary.” She said, trying to reassure her. There wasn’t exactly a how-to book for this situation.

Cisco walked into the room at this moment. “Training time!” he threw something at Felicity. “Put that on.”

“What is this?” She said, holding the bundle away from her.

“A supersuit. I figured out what went wrong with that other fabric and fixed it. This will grow and shrink as you do, so we don’t have to worry about Giganta meaning naked Felicity.”

“Why did you just call me Giganta?”

“Oh, it um….that’s what the news reports were calling you. As you grew, your face kept swelling up, so they couldn’t ID you and I guess they didn’t wanna keep calling you the giant naked woman.”

“Well, I guess its good that they couldn’t ID me. I don’t even wanna know what the Palmer Tech board’s response to that would be.” Felicity generally was an optimist. She needed to find some upside to this situation. “And, you know, when I go home, I’ll be safe.”

“You’re lollygagging. Put on the suit, we need to do some training.” Cisco said. “Oh, you’ll need these too. They’ll grow with your feet.” He handed her a pair of shoes that looked like combat boots.

Felicity rolled her eyes but went into the bathroom to change. She came out a few minutes later in a yellow and blue catsuit. It had padding and shock protections in the elbows and knees. The shoes had built-in shock absorbers and the fronts were almost shin guards.

“I, is it supposed to be this tight? I feel like this doesn’t leave a lot up to the imagination.” The blonde said. Given the last few days, she was very self-concious about the way she looked.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Cisco said, clearly looking behind her and not at her.

“It’s a little tight, yes.” Caitlin said, “but it needs to be in order to grow as you grow. When you’re this size, no one’s gonna see it.”

“Ok. not happy about it, but ok.” The hacker said. “Let’s do this.” she said, trying to psych herself up. She went to open the door and head to the training room, and tore the door off its hinges. “Uh, oops.”

“Write that down. Clearly, we need to test her strength as well.” Cisco turned to Caitlin and said.

The strength test came first, since it was the easiest to do. It consisted of Cisco adding weights to a bar and having Felicity lift it. Eventually, they ran out of weights and concluded she now had the strength of a giant even when she wasn’t the size of one.

Next, they tested her control. Cisco wanted to see how easily she could grow and shrink, and how accurate she was. If he told her to grow to 10 feet tall, could she do it or did she overshoot that height? She didn’t do remarkably well on that test, but she wasn’t completely unable to control it either. There was a definite learning curve. 

It was during the control test that they discovered another ability of hers. When she was her normal size, or close to it, she could expand certain parts of her body. Cisco wanted to know if the increase in height depended on an increase in width, which it did. In testing that, however, Felicity was able to make her stomach expand to the point she look several months pregnant. As soon as that happened, she wanted to know if that was the only thing that could expand. Thirty seconds later, Oliver was threatening to shoot Cisco if he didn’t stop staring at Felicity’s chest, which she’d enlarged.

“Ok, so maybe this situation isn’t entirely sucky.” The blonde had to admit.

They finished their tests, and Barry insisted they needed to go and get food, when the click-clack sound of high heels came down the hallway. Barry ran out into the hallway, but never ran back in. Fifteen seconds later, the person entered the room.

“Nice outfit.” The woman remarked.

“Where’s the Flash?” Caitlin asked.

“Mr. Allen is fine. You and I need to talk, Ms. Smoak.” Amanda Waller said.


	6. Chapter 6

**Central City**

“Where’s the Flash?” Caitlin asked.

“Mr. Allen is fine. You and I need to talk, Ms. Smoak.” Amanda Waller said. “Alone.”

“That’s not happening.” Oliver said stepping between Felicity and Waller.

“Oliver? Thanks but I think I can handle this myself.” Felicity said. “Could you give us the room?”

Cisco and Caitlin left to find out what happened to Barry. Oliver left, but not before shooting Waller an angry ‘I don’t trust you’ look. He also walked out the door, and stopped about three feet away from it, out of sight but not out of earshot.

“So, what is it we need to talk about?” Felicity asked, feigning ignorance.

“Don’t insult my intelligence, or your own, Ms. Smoak. You know I’m here about Giganta or whatever you’re choosing to call yourself.”

“What about that?” the blonde said crossing her arms.

“By now, you’re aware that ARGUS…takes an interest in people with special abilities. You now fit into that category. An operative with your skills, technical and otherwise, would be very useful.”

Felicity stared at Waller for several moments, unblinking. She remembered the Deathstroke situation when Waller was ready to bomb the city. She remembered what Oliver told her about his year in Hong Kong. Digg’s stories about her regarding Task Force X and what Lyla had shared with him.

“Yeah, I’m gonna pass on that. I don’t like the idea of someone putting an explosive in my neck. Sorry you came all this way.” Felicity turned to leave.

“You may not be an operative, but that doesn’t mean you aren’t a threat.” Waller countered.

Felicity turned back towards the woman, getting angry at what she thought Waller was implying. “So, I don’t take your shady offer, so that makes me a threat.” She felt herself get a taller. “What happens now? You kill me? Take me to some blacksite until I say yes? What?”

“I’m glad to see you’ve gained this level or control this fast, but your little growth spurt just now didn’t make me wanna back down. And I wasn’t threatening you. I doubt I could do anything with your boyfriend lurking outside the door anyway.” The director said. “No, let’s call this a professional courtesy. Be careful with how and when you use your powers. Even if you don’t reach critical mass and explode, your giant size still makes you dangerous. Don’t let that danger become my concern again.” Waller turned to leave the room. “One more thing, if you change your mind, the offer still stands.” She walked out of the room, nodding to Oliver as she left.

“Ugh. Dragon lady.” Felicity said shivering as he came into the room.

“You okay?” he asked.

“Yeah, its just- seeing her always leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Barry ok?”

“I think so. The others went to find him and didn’t come back in a panic, so I’m guessing he’s okay. Waller probably just hit him with some nanites to disable his speed.” The archer replied.

“She found out who I was way too fast. Be honest- was I super recognizable as Giganta? Because something tells me the Palmer Tech board isn’t gonna be happy about their CEO being 60 feet tall and naked on national television.”

“No, you weren’t. Your face…it kinda- you looked like a human parade balloon mixed with the girl from Willy Wonka, the one who turns blue, except not blue. Waller probably only found out it was you so quickly because she somehow knew about this before it became a big problem.” He admitted.

Felicity was about to remark on the pun when her phone rang. An uncharacteristically frantic John Diggle was on the other end. He demanded to know if she was safe, what happened after Barry ran up to Giganta and why she hadn’t told the team.

“How did you know it was me?” the blonde asked when he finally stopped for breath.

“I recognized a scar on your back. The one from when the Clock King shot you. Answer the questions.”  

“I’m fine, with the exception of being super hungry right now. Barry managed to get an antidote into my mouth so that I’d return to my normal size. There’s some other stuff you guys should know, but I wanna have that conversation when Oliver and I get back to Star City. I didn’t tell you because it kinda became a very big problem very, very fast. Literally and figuratively. One day I was a little taller, ten hours later, Oliver’s the short one. We panicked.”

“But you’re back to normal now.”

“Not quite. I’ll explain when we get back.” Felicity said before saying goodbye and hanging up. She then called PT and told the board she hadn’t been feeling well the last few days, which was true, but would be returning to the office the day after tomorrow.

She was about to ask Oliver something, but when she turned to face him, the room began to spin and was collapsed. The archer unsuccessfully tried to catch her, she did weigh as much as a car, and she hit the ground, creating a dent in the floor.

She woke up to murmurs surrounding her. She could make out the deep timbre of Oliver’s voice mixing with the excited speed of Cisco’s words and Caitlin’s higher-pitched voice interrupting occasionally. She cracked one eye open to see everyone standing over her.

“She said she was hungry.”

“The readings indicate-“

“Of course, why didn’t we-“

“Um, guys. She’s awake.” Barry pointed out.

 “What happ- I’m still Felicity-sized right? I didn’t become giant again or shrink?”

“No, you’re Felicity-sized still.” Oliver said with a soft smile.

“You passed out.” Caitlin explained. “I ran some tests. It was due to low blood sugar. It seems like you have the same caloric requirements as Barry now.”

“But I’m not a speedster.”

“No, but you do use a large amount of energy when you grow or shrink and that has to come from somewhere.” Cisco said.

“How many calories?” she asked.

“By my calculations, at least 8,000.”

“Ok, so lets get this straight. I need to eat 4 times what a normal person does just in order to stay alive?”

“Pretty much.”

“It’s a good thing Oliver knows how to cook.” The blonde said.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Felicity goes home, and the situation is affecting her more than she realizes

The next morning, Felicity and Oliver went to the train station to go home. Oliver had arranged for a pilot to fly Felicity’s plane back to Star City. They got settled in their seats and waited for the train to depart. They took a very early train so the only other passengers were on the opposite end of the car.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Oliver asked as Felicity stared out the window. “You- if Cisco hadn’t found a way to resize you, you would’ve died.”

“I didn’t know how.” She said. “I didn’t- how do you tell someone you love that you’re living on borrowed time?”

“So, instead you waited and when it looked like you were almost out of time, decided to say goodbye without explaining why.” Oliver said. “I- do you have any idea how scared I was? I didn’t even get to say anything back. No ‘I love you’, not even ‘goodbye’. You said your goodbye and then Barry dragged me away.”

“I know, I’m sorry. I- I was growing and then I found out what would happen to everyone else if I got too big, and then there were cameras circling me and-“

“What do you mean, what would happen to everyone else?” Oliver interrupted.

“It’s atom tech. If I exploded, it would be like an atomic bomb going off. The blast would’ve destroyed most if not all of the city. That’s why I tried to make you leave right before I went through the roof.”

The blonde had tried to talk Oliver into leaving, but he refused. She tried to get Barry to take him back to Star City, but he threatened to shoot Barry with one of his anti-speedster arrows, so Barry backed down.

“Glad that’s all over now.” Oliver said, after he finished processing. “Mostly.”

“Me too.” She said. “I’m hungry.”

Oliver handed her two of the protein bars Star Labs had developed for Barry. The train ride to Star City was uneventful, aside from other travelers discussing Giganta, which caused Felicity to grip the armrest a little too hard at a few points. She could understand the comments made by people who were scared, or annoyed that things like this kept happening. It was the comments about her weight and size that were the problem. She wasn’t in the mood to hear people making fat jokes about her.

When they got to the Star City station, they got off the train to find John, Thea and Laurel standing on the platform waiting for them.

“You’ve both got some explaining to do.” John said with his arms crossed.

“Yeah, we do.” she said.

They drove to the new lair in silence. When they reached the campaign office, everyone except Felicity got into the elevator. “You guys go, I’ll be down in a second.”

“Why can’t you-?” Thea started to ask.

“It’s one of the things I need to explain.” Felicity said. Oliver closed the door and the elevator moved downwards. It came back up, and Felicity stepped on. She was very happy that Cisco installed a freight elevator rather than a passenger one.

Once she was in the lair, she struggled to figure out where to start her explanation.

“Ok, I think we all know what happened,” John said, “but we don’t know why or how.”

“I was experimenting with the ATOM tech, trying to figure out what happened to Ray. And I got zapped. You know the rest. I grew, almost exploded and Team Flash found a way to make me normal sized again.”

“So, you’re back to normal.”

“No, I can just control my….growth now.”

“The elevator?” Thea asked.

“Lost the physical size, didn’t lose the weight. Which really kinda sucks because, I mean, they wouldn’t tell me what it is, but I’m gonna be taking the stairs for the rest of my life.” She said, then a look of horror crossed her face. “My office is on the 52nd floor. That’s so many stairs.”

She’d spent the last few days just happy she hadn’t blown up and the larger implications of how her life would change hadn’t occurred to her. She began to panic. Suddenly, something flew off and hit Laurel in the cheek.

“What was that?”

“Frack.” Felicity muttered. “Yeah, it’s the button of my pants. I’m sorry. When I get upset, I grow. Since no one’s panicking, I’m guessing I didn’t grow too much.”

“Only about six inches.” Oliver said. “Good thing you remembered to wear your supersuit.” He said, trying to lighten the mood.

“Supersuit?”

“I was naked in front of the whole world. Not doing that again. Cisco made a suit that grows with me.” Felicity said. She took a deep breath and felt herself get smaller before sighing and going to sit in her chair. The chair immediately broke. “Right. Note to self: buy or make an office chair that is made from a stronger material.”

Everyone chuckled at her attitude. John then walked over to her. “Not happy you didn’t tell us, but I’m glad you’re okay.” He went to hug her, which she returned. “Can’t breathe.”

“Oh, sorry. Also have giant strength. I should’ve warned you.” the blonde said.

She and Oliver went home to unpack and settle in before patrol that night. She was hungry by the time they got there, so Oliver volunteered to make them something. He made enough for five, Felicity ate most of it and was still hungry.

“Our food budget’s about to go through the roof.” The blonde said dejectedly when all the pasta was gone.

“There’s some other stuff I can make.” He said, as he walked over to the cabinets and started digging through them.

“Oliver. Oliver! You don’t need to make me anything else. I can- just let me wallow for a little bit, ok?” Felicity said.

Patrol went fine. Darhk was still up to something and they weren’t able to stop him.  They were able to stop some smaller crimes taking place, however. They called it a night and went home.

 

Felicity smoothed down the wrinkles in her red cocktail dress as she walked into the restaurant and was led to a table in the center of the dining room. A waiter came over and took her order. She ordered one of everything on the menu, which surprised the man. Fifteen minutes later, a fully loaded cart was brought into the dining room and parked next to her table.

She immediately dug in. She could feel her dress tightening and herself getting bigger, the other customers were staring, but didn’t care. She was too hungry and the food was too good. Once every plate had been practically licked clean, the waiter returned.

“May I offer you a mint?” He asked.

“Uh, I don’t think that’s a good idea.” She said. She was filled to the brim.

“Just one wafer thin mint.” He insisted.

“Fine.” She said, taking it from the tray. As soon as it touched her tongue, Felicty started to expand. Her stomach began to grow, like someone overinflating a beach ball. She developed huge love handles and a muffin top. Her breasts began to blow up like water balloons causing her to spill out of her dress. Her dress tore before simply blowing apart. Other people began to panic. One yelled ‘she’s gonna blow’. She grew and grew and continued to expand. The chair broke instantly and her huge stomach knocked the table over. Her limbs all thickened and widened. Her cheeks puffed out, and like in Central City, the rumbling in her stomach started. She was worried this was it, she was going to hit critical mass.

“Felicity. Felicity!” She heard Oliver shouting. She could feel him shaking her shoulder. Her eyes popped open.

“What happened?”

“You were having a nightmare.” He said. “And it kinda- well, look.”

She looked down. Felicity’s lower half wouldn’t fit on the bed and she was taking up most of the mattress. Her hands were four times their normal size and the bedframe had given out. It took her several deep breaths, but finally, she began to shrink. She breathed a sigh of relief. It was all a dream. “So, I wasn’t about to explode from eating too much?”

“No, you weren’t. Is that what happened? In the dream?”

She nodded, but didn’t say anything.


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Felicity has a confrontation, lends a much needed hand and gains some attention

Felicity went back to work the day after she and Oliver returned to Star City. She walked into her office to find Mr. Dennis already there waiting. He didn’t look happy, which wasn’t unusual, but it still put her on edge.

“Good morning, Mr. Dennis.”

“Ms. Smoak.”

“I’m sorry, I must’ve forgotten we had an appointment today.”

“We don’t. I just wanted to talk to you. Get a few things straight.”

“Such as?”

“You are the CEO of this company. What you do is a reflection on every employee who works for you. I hope you realized and understand what that means.”

“I do, and I’m not taking the position lightly. Can I ask what this is about?” she said.

“You cannot call out of work for three days with no explanation at the drop of a hat. There were investors scheduled to meet with the board two days ago, projects waiting for final approval. Items the board needed to vote on.”

“I didn’t call out at the drop of a hat, I got the flu. Didn’t wanna risk getting other employees sick and did as much work as I could while I recovered.” She told him. it was half-true. She told Barry and Oliver what to do and they did it. Typing when you’re 50 feet tall isn’t easy. “I sent the approval for the projects via email when I realized I wouldn’t be in that day. Gerry had my proxy votes and comments for the board meeting. As for new investors, I thought you were more than capable of meeting with them in my absence.” Her computer dinged with a new email. “Is that all?”

“There is one more thing. As I said, you are the public face of this company. Your appearance makes a difference. Not looking put together reflects badly on us.”

“Meaning?” Felicity asked, starting to get annoyed.

“We’ve noticed your clothes do not fit as well as they used to. Perhaps it’s time to update your wardrobe.”

Felicity’s jaw dropped. “Can I make a suggestion? I think you might need to attend a seminar on appropriate workplace behavior.”

“Ms. Smoak-“

“What you just said was incredibly rude and unprofessional. You’re on the board but that doesn’t mean you’re exempt from behaving appropriately. None of you should be commenting on my appearance, period. This company can’t afford another scandal, especially one caused by the board of directors not understanding what is and isn’t appropriate to say.” Felicity said. She was proud of herself. She turned his dig about her into a comment on his behavior. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I should get to work.”

He left and she got to work. She spent the whole day on edge. Every time she thought about what Dennis said, she felt herself start to grow. Luckily, she caught herself before anything happened. She typed away, pounding on the keyboard like it was his face. Curtis came in around lunchtime to give her updates on his top secret project. He used the time to interrogate her on where she’d been and if she’d learned anything new about what happened to Ray.

That night, Felicity went to the lair as usual. When she got there, she finally released all the anger she’d been feeling all day. She broke one of the training dummies from punching it and put a sizable dent in one of the concrete pillars.

“Rough day?” Thea asked from behind her.

“A member of the board of directors visited me first thing this morning. At first, it was a lecture about responsibility and taking my job seriously, which I stood and listen to, because why not. Then, he made some crack about how my clothes are fitting a little tighter and I should keep an eye on that.”

“He said what?”

“He turned into something about how I’m the face of PT and if I don’t look professional, that reflects badly on everyone. I threatened to send him to a sensitivity seminar. In what universe is that an appropriate thing to say?” she said rhetorically. “So yeah, I’m kinda pissed.”

“Myabe coming into the field will help.”

“She’s not going into the field.” Oliver said exiting the elevator.

“I’m not? Why’s that?”

“Well, because you- you aren’t trained. You don’t have any experience and you could get hurt.” Oliver was grasping at straws. He knew it, but that didn’t stop him from trying.

“One, I trained with Team Flash. Two, I’ve been in the field before. And if I hadn’t, how am I supposed to get experience if I don’t go into the field? Three, right now, I think it’s more likely that I’m gonna hurt someone than the other way around.” She argued.

“You don’t have a mask.”

“No, but I’ve got those goggles Cisco made.”

Cisco had made a pair of goggles, realizing that Felicity needed some way to conceal her identity. A mask like Oliver’s or Barry’s didn’t make any sense, so he landed on goggles as a good substitute. They only had three modes so far: infrared, night vision and normal vision, but he had plenty of ideas for new features to add.

“So, its settled then. She’s coming into the field with us.” Thea concluded.

The next two weeks were a strange adjustment period for Team Arrow. Felicity had joined them in the field every other night, with the comms being run by either Digg, Laurel or Thea those nights. Occasionally, the team split up for patrol, and Felicity had stopped a handful of minor crimes on her own. Having the strength of a giant was useful when trying to stop robberies and assaults.

Fifteen days after her return, however, things changed. Oliver, Digg and Thea were off doing their own crime-fighting thing. Felicity had just stopped a late-night bank robbery when she heard sirens blaring. Following the noise, she saw the fire department trying to put out a huge fire in an apartment building. She heard two of the firefighters arguing about the best way to get everyone out.

“It’s burning too quickly. By the time we get it set up, the building’ll collapse.”

“We need to do something.”

“What’s wrong?” Felicity asked. She’d run into a handful of SCPD officers over the last two weeks, and Oliver had vouched for her, as had Captain Lance. She wasn’t sure if the fire department knew who she was though.

“Who are-?”

“You’re that new vigilante the cops keep mentioning, aren’t you?”

“Yeah, I guess. Any way I can help?”

“Building’s too tall and burning too fast for us to evacuate the higher floors. It’s gonna collapse in on itself before we can get anyone up there.”

Felicity decided now might be a good time for Giganta to make an official appearance. “Don’t worry. I’ve got it.” She focused and felt herself grow taller. When she opened her eyes again, she was just about eye-level with the building’s roof, about 15 stories.

While the firefighters focused on keeping the blaze contained, Felicity was pulling people out of the upper floors of the building. She deposited them on the roof of the building across the street. By the time the flames were under better control, every floor except the top two had been cleared. With the fire under control, the fire department was able to extend a ladder and get everyone else down safely. Knowing her job was done, Felicity let herself shrink.

“Thanks for the help.” One of the firefighters said. She didn’t respond, but gave him a nod and left.

News crews had arrived on the scene when the fire broke out and had caught everything from Felicity’s arrival to her leaving on tape. Giganta’s heroic actions were the top story on the 11 o’clock news. 

* * *

 

**Elsewhere**

In an abandoned building on the outskirts of Star City, a very large woman laid on the floor watching the news on her phone. All the news stations could talk about was Giganta and how big of a hero she was, literally and figuratively. The woman scoffed. Giganta was a freak, just like she was, but the world only had space for one giant woman and that woman was her.

“This is gonna the best fun I’ve had since my coma.” She grinned maliciously.


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Felicity learns she has a nemesis, and her nemesis isn't very happy

**Abandoned Building**

“This is gonna the best fun I’ve had since my coma.” The woman grinned maliciously.

Miranda Hollowman had been a model, back before the ‘accident’ at Star Labs. She’d gone to the particle accelerator demonstration because she heard Oliver Queen might be there. Every model seen on Queen’s arm got an instant career boost as well as lucrative brand deals and she wanted to be next. Then, the machine malfunctioned and exploded, leaving Miranda in a coma for nearly 18 months. When she woke up, she had something to eat. She hadn’t been able to stop eating since which was only half her problem. She was also bright pink.

At first, her growth was a problem. She was too big to get any work. Every brand and fashion house turned her away, saying she didn’t have ‘the right look’ they were after. As she grew, she came to find a slight upside in the situation. The more she ate, the bigger she got. The bigger she got, the more she weighed. A few of her ‘friends’ in the modeling world had unfortunately run into her after her accident. One would never walk again. The doctors were worried about the other one ever waking up.

At first, she thought it was the coma making her eat so much. After all, her body hadn’t had real food in over a year. She ate a Big Belly Burster combo as soon as she left the hospital. As she went to order more fries, she noticed her skin was starting to change color. She shrugged and kept eating. The more she ate, the pinker she got and the heavier she got. Soon, she looked less like a person and more like a blob with vague human features. She was still clearly a woman, but her feet and legs had melded together, almost like a mermaid’s tale.

“I’m gonna make you wish you’d never been born, Giganta.” Miranda scoffed.

* * *

 

**Arrow Cave**

“What the hell happened?”

“Yeah, I mean, why’s Giganta trending on Twitter?” Thea asked looking up from her phone.

“After I turned my comm off, I was on my way back here when I heard sirens. An apartment building was on fire. The fire department seemed like they could use some help, so I grew to like 15 stories tall and started pulling people from the building.” Felicity explained. “They got it under control, so I shrunk and left.”

“Did anyone see you?” Oliver asked.

“Clearly they did, if its on the news.” She pointed out.

“You know what I meant.”

“No, the goggles stayed on. Don’t know how, but they grow with me too.” She answered. “They didn’t see my face, and everyone was too focused on the fire to be scared on the giant woman. Especially since I was trying to help. We’re all good.”

The next day, Giganta and her actions were all anyone was talking about. Apparently, many people thought she’d died or simply vanished after Central City. Conspiracy theorists went wild trying to pinpoint how she survived, what causes her growth and what her master plan is. Reporters even started pestering the survivors of the fire for any information or comment about her. They hadn’t been able to tell them anything useful and most claimed they were just happy to be alive. A few were angry she was ‘using their tragedy for publicity’ and cursed out the reporters for bugging them.

It was around 6pm when a video was sent to Channel 52. It showed a huge pink woman eating everything in sight. She was impossibly large, to the point a self-proclaimed expert said it wasn’t humanly possible for someone to be the size she was and survive. Calling her even human was a stretch. The woman looked more like a massive pink blob. At the end of the video, she turned to the camera and issued a challenge at Giganta.

“This world isn’t big enough for two giant women. Let’s settle this like adults. Otherwise, I’ll eat this entire city and everyone in it. Meet me at the edge of the Glades in an hour. You don’t show, people’ll start dying.” To prove her point, the blob extended an arm and reached off-screen. Her arm came back holding a man that was screaming. Everyone watched in horror as she swallowed him whole. She then immediately grew bigger. The video cut out and Channel 52’s anchor apologized for the graphic images.

The woman, now dubbed Goo-Girl laughed at the panicked faces of everyone around her. If Giganta really was a hero, she’d try and stop her. The ensuing fight wouldn’t make Miranda famous, it would make her infamous. Maybe it wasn’t how she imagined becoming famous, but fame was fame. Once she was famous, the riches would come soon enough.

Felicity looked away from the monitor in front of her. “I think I’m gonna be sick.”

“We need to stop her. You need to stop her.”

“How do I do that? I don’t think punching her the way I do robbers will work.”

“I don’t know.”

Felicity tried to think of ways to combat Goo-Girl but kept coming up empty. There were too many unknowns. She was in the middle of brainstorming when her phone rang. She ignored it and it continued to ring.

“What?”

“Based on your tone, I take it you haven’t found a solution Ms. Smoak.” Waller said from the other end of the phone. “I thought you were better than that.”

“I can’t solve an equation without all the variables.” She shot back. “From what I do know, she isn’t like me, so its back to square one.”

“From what you know. Barry Allen might have information that will interest you. About someone affected by that incident with the particle accelerator.” Waller then hung up.

Oliver overheard this and called Barry, asking about any women injured or believed to be killed by the accident at Star Labs. Cisco came back with three names: Miranda Hollowman, Heather Spratt and Bethany Ison. Heather and Bethany disappeared, Miranda was put in a coma, but disappeared after she woke up.

“Ok, that tells me who Goo-Girl is but not how to stop her.” Felicity remarked.

“I might have an idea.” Cisco said.

They heard a whoosing sound on the other end of the phone. A few moments later, Barry sped into the lair. He handed a cannister to Felicity. “Cisco made this back when- you know.”

“What is it and what does it do?”

“It kinda- if we hadn’t been able to shrink you, we needed a way to stop you from hitting critical mass. This was our last resort.”

“What does it do?” Felicity asked.

“You should go, Felicity.” Oliver said reading Barry’s expression. “Her time limit ends in twenty minutes.”

The blonde took the cannister and headed out. She reached the designated spot with a minute to spare.

“You know, I didn’t think you’d actually show.” Goo-Girl said.

“Why are you doing this?”

“Simple. There can’t be two giant women waltzing around. There’s only space for one, me. With you gone, I’ll be unique. Killing you will make me famous.”

“Do you really think that’s what’s gonna happen Miranda?”

“Ah, so you know my name. Sorry, can’t return the favor. Guess you aren’t that important but you’re right. I won’t just be famous, I’ll be infamous. It’ll be hard, but someone’s gotta do it.” The blob tilted her head slightly. Back when she was skinny, it made her look younger and more vulnerable. Photographers ate it up. Now, it just looked weird. “Let’s finish this, shall we?”

Felicity sighed. She hoped she could get through to Miranda, convince her not to do this, but clearly the former model wasn’t budging. She grew a few more feet and swung at her. The former model just absorbed the force and laughed. Miranda tried to take a bite out of Felicity’s arm, but she moved away too fast. The blonde grew a little more and got ready to attack again. After several rounds of Goo-Girl absorbing every hit she managed to land, Felicity realized she didn’t have any other options. She pulled out the cannister Barry had given her, removed the top and threw it. It landed in the middle of her stomach. Miranda stopped advancing when she began to feel strange. She felt like she needed to burp and fart at the same time. A bubble of gas formed in her stomach. She could feel it growing and started to laugh.

“That’s your plan? Give me something that’ll make me grow even larger. Pretty dumb move.” She then burped and dozens of pink bubbles came out of her mouth. A rumbling noise started coming from her stomach.

She kept expanding and inflating. Unlike Giganta or her usual form, she wasn’t growing, she was just filling with air, like a balloon. Suddenly, she popped. Exploding into thousands of pieces. Felicity watched in horror and awe as the pink goo splattered all over the pavement. Someone turned on a hose and washed her down the storm drain.

“She did have an overinflated opinion of herself.”


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In the wake of Goo-Girl's defeat, a new problem arises.

The days after Goo-Girl’s defeat were surreal for Felicity. Prior to it, and the apartment fire, Giganta hadn’t made the news. When she was helping the team, she might’ve grown somewhat but not to the point where everyone knew she was Giganta. The three days after Goo-Girl’s loss was another story. Helping during the fire made people wonder if she was trying to be a hero like the Green Arrow. Now, every news station was speculating on her identity, and whether she was working with the Green Arrow and if she wasn’t, how he felt about someone encroaching on his territory. There was also an entire subsection of news outlets looking for an explanation of how Giganta was created and what that meant for the future of humanity. Felicity tried to ignore those people as much as possible.

Luckily, five days after her fight with Miranda, Felicity got a call from Star Labs which distracted her from all her anxiety about making the news. Caitlin though it would be a good idea for Felicity to come for a check-up. The doctor wanted to ascertain which changes to Felicity’s physiology were permanent or long lasting and which ones had faded.

Thea and Laurel volunteered to go to Central City with her. Laurel wanted to talk to Cisco about upgrades to her uniform while Thea was the only member of the team who hadn’t met the Flash or his team yet. She also volunteered since Oliver couldn’t go because of a campaign obligation. The journey to Central City was much less frantic than the last time Felicity visited.

Felicity’s tests went well and Caitlin said she was in good health. On their way out of Star Labs, they ran into Iris, who convinced the trio to stay one more day so they could have a girls’ night that night. Laurel and Thea seemed excited for it, so Felicity agreed and they planned to meet around 6. They decided to head over to Iris’ apartment and figure everything out from there. On the way, Felicity needed to stop for food, so they found a mini mart. After she grabbed her snacks, she found Thea and Laurel standing in one of the aisles staring at something.

“This has to be a joke.” Laurel said.

“Or some stunt. Outrage marketing and all that.” Thea responded.

“What are you looking at?”

“This,” she pointed at a display, “Skinny Girl Soda. Claims its ‘just for women’.”

“Yes,” Felicity said sarcastically, “because after all, Coke is too manly for me. if only someone made a soda, just for me, so I can have soda and still feel feminine.”

“I don’t even think it’s that. their gimmick is that it’ll help with weight loss.” Laurel said, reading the smaller print on the sign, “Because, you know, cutting out soda never occurs to us.”

“I kinda wanna try it.” Thea admitted. “Not for that reason, but now I’m curious.” Shaking her head, Felicity grabbed a six pack of the soda and headed towards the register.

When they arrived at Iris’ apartment, Caitlin was already there. Everyone said hello, and Thea started talking about the soda displayed they’d seen and about how they ‘all had to try it since its so ridiculous’. Everyone except Felicity grabbed a bottle and took a sip. Felicity passed since Caitlin had told her to avoid anything carbonated for a week to see how that impacted her abilities. They drank as they talked, and by the time they decided on what to do, going to one of the city’s clubs, the package of soda was gone.

Their night at the club was nice at first, but then Laurel and Iris started to feel poorly. They couldn’t quite explain what caused it, but they had upset stomachs and felt really gassy. The next day, when Felicity woke up, both Laurel and Thea seemed to be in bad shape. They met up with Iris and Caitlin at Jitters, and they both seemed a little worse for wear too.

“Don’t take this the wrong way, but you guys don’t look too good.” Felicity said.

“I don’t feel too good either.” Iris remarked. “I mean, I don’t think I drank that much.”

“I didn’t drink at all.” Laurel said.

“Maybe it was the soda or something. Everyone except me drank it, and you all feel gross.”

None of the women said it, but a bubbling, gassy feeling had been building up in their stomachs for the last several hours. Not only as it getting more uncomfortable, but by now, it was starting to be rather painful.

“You know, that might be- bbbBBBUUUURRRPPpppp-“ Caitlin began to say. Several tables turned to look at them. “That was embarrassing. That idea has some merit.”

She then burped again, followed by the other three. Other tables were shooting them looks. Feeling embarrassed, they got up to leave. On the way out, Thea released a loud fart. “Please tell me that didn’t just happen.” Another woman could be heard burping like Caitlin did as they were leaving.

“Um, guys?” Felicity said. “You’re kinda- we need to hurry.”

“Why?”

“Your hands and faces are starting to swell up. Which, based on my experience, means the rest of you is too.” Their faces were beginning to get really puffy, which was worrying Felicity. She could see their clothes begin to stretch as she spoke. No one was bursting out of their clothes, yet.

“My pants do feel tighter than normal.” Thea said. As she said that, the button of her jeans popped off and went flying.

“Yeah, we need to go.”

The group made it halfway to Star Labs before Caitlin swelled up to the point that she burst out of her clothes. Luckily, enough of the garment was intact for her to at least cover herself. She’d split several seams at this point, and everyone had at least a few rips in their clothes from expanding and the fabric not being able to give as much as it needed to. The others didn’t look far behind Caitlin. They were starting to look like Felicity had after her accident. Their faces were puffy, their bodies were inflated, all of their limbs were swollen. To make things worse, as they expanded, the burping and farting got worse, drawing even more attention to them. Panicking, Felicity did the only thing she could think of. She called Barry, hoping he could get them to the lab before anyone got too exposed.

“I feel kinda floaty now, actually.” Thea said as they waited. “Like, I’m lighter than I used to be.” She jumped to prove her point, but didn’t land right away. Instead, she floated down. She jumped again, but Felicity grabbed her before she could float, worried she might float away. As Felicity looked around helplessly, she noticed there were other women going through the same thing as Laurel, Thea, Caitlin and Iris. Some were just burping and farting, loudly and unladylike, others were starting to expand as they had.

A red blur came towards them. “Finally. We need to get them somewhere less….out in the open.” Felicity said.


	11. Chapter 11

A red blur came towards the group of women. “Finally. We need to get them somewhere less….out in the open.” Felicity said.

Iris was the first person Barry grabbed and ran off with. Caitlin was next, followed by Laurel and then Thea. Felicity looked around once she was alone and noticed one of the other women she’d seen expanding wasn’t touching the ground any longer. Her torso had blown up to the point where she looked like a human blimp, with inflated arms and legs attached. From where Felicity was standing, she couldn’t even see her face, with her rotund body in the way. The woman began to panic and scream as her body lifted itself off the ground. She ran towards the woman and managed to grab hold of one of her legs before she got too high up. Thanks to her increased strength and weight, it wasn’t hard to keep the woman from flying away. The woman was still yelling.

“it’s okay. I got you.” She felt like she was living the scene in Harry Potter when Aunt Marge began to inflate and float away. The woman looked like Marge had too. Her clothes were torn and barely staying on, her entire body had turned into one big ball with swollen arms and legs attached and a gust of wind almost blew her away.

“Why’s this happening?”

“I don’t know, but I’m trying to figure it out.” Felicity said, trying to keep the woman calm. Barry had returned at this point, wondering why Felicity hadn’t followed. “I don’t think this was an isolated situation. Can you-?”

Barry had taken hold of the woman and run off before she could finish. Felicity followed him to Star Labs, where Iris, Caitlin, Laurel, and Thea were in one of the larger lab spaces. The unknown woman was in a different room to protect Barry’s identity. Cisco had attached weights to all five women to prevent them from floating too far off the ground. The only thing Felicity could think when she saw them was that it was like someone made parade balloons modeled after her friends. She also wondered if this was how she looked before she figured out how to control her own growth.

“How exactly did this happen?”

“We don’t know for sure, but I think it has something to do with that ‘Women Only’ soda they’ve been selling.” Felicity said. “You should ask the woman in the other room if she’s had it recently.”

“Ok.” Cisco said in a confused tone. “Why?”

“They have symptoms, I don’t. They all started feeling uncomfortable last night and woke up this morning feeling worse. Then they were very gassy and began expanding.”

“And?”

“That’s the only thing they all had that I didn’t.” Felicity said. “It’s the only common denominator.”

Cisco was about to respond when an alarm started to sound. He checked his phone, which was synched with the Cortex computer. “More reports of swollen women starting to float away like balloons.”

“I’m on it.” Barry ran out the door.

“This city is- BURP- really weird.” Thea said. “Can you fix us now?” She grew again. This started another round of burping and farting from the group, and with each noise, the women expanded.

“I’d need to know what caused this before I can even start to fix it.” Cisco said. “The soda thing seems-“

Felicity’s phone then started going off. “Does the name ‘The Trickster’ mean anything to you guys?”

“Yeah, Barry’s fought him before.” Caitlin said in between gas. “Why?”

“Well, Linda Park was reporting live on what’s going on. Then, she started burping, expanding and nearly floated away. He then hijacked the transmission.” Felicity answered. “Think it might be important.” Felicity went over to one of the computers and pulled up the live broadcast.

“-understand the women of this city are feeling rather bloated. I’m afraid that’s my doing. The virus I put into the ‘women only’ soda is to thank. It’s designed to create gas inside the female body and the gas tends to build up.  Now, to the best part, if someone in this city can’t find an antidote soon, the gas will build up until poof, bye-bye ladies of Central City, hello airborne virus.” He laughed. “There is, of course, a solution. I’ll trade the antidote for $560,000 cash and the release of Axel Walker. Trick-tock Central City.” The feed cut off and the station went back to the anchors who were in shock.

Barry had come back at this point and heard the end of the broadcast. “He’s behind this?”

Together with the help of CCPD, Barry had been able to come up with a plan. Since the women who drank the soda were being filled with gas, and not gaining weight, they only needed to be weighed down to stop them from floating away. His solution was to anchor the women to something heavy. They would still float, but like a balloon tied to something, they couldn’t float away. It seemed to be working so far.

“Looks like it.” Felicity said as she typed into the computer. “Gotcha! I found him, you with me?”

“Are you sure we shouldn’t-?”

“We don’t really have a lot of time. I’ll go alone if I need to.” she told Barry.

Reluctantly, Barry followed Felicity to the building she’d tracked Trickster to. It was an abandoned toy factory that had been damaged by the wormhole earlier that year. Barry hadn’t gotten around to repairing the factory yet, mostly because it had been abandoned. Felicity grew a few feet bigger and moved into the building. Barry ran to the other entrance so they could cover more ground, and possibly surprise the Trickster. The building was eerily quiet as each hero snuck through it.

Finally, Felicity reached the very middle of the factory where she found the man she was looking for. “Where’s the antidote?”

“You- sorry sweetheart.” He said as he sprayed something into her face. She suspected it was the ‘secret ingredient’ of the soda. “The Flash is supposed to catch me, not….whoever you are.”

“Name’s Giganta.”

“Fitting, especially now.” He remarked.

Unlike with Iris and the others, Felicity immediately began to feel the effects of the virus. Her face began to swell, along with the rest of her. her fingers and hands swelled up faster than they had right after her accident and once again, she was Felicity-balloon sized. She felt a bubble of gas start to grow in her body. Deep down, she was starting to get sick of growing and not being able to stop it. Barry ran into the room as she started to float in the air with a panicked look.

“Ah, finally.” Trickster said. “You know, it’s very rude to-.”

Felicity let out a massive, almost sonic-boom-like burp. It was so loud and forceful, it knocked the Trickster off his feet. He landed in a pile with a loud thud, unconscious. Barry looked over to her and saw she was beginning to deflate. “Well, that’s one way to capture the bad guy.”

They took him to the CCPD to be questioned. He woke up, and refused to tell the police anything. He wouldn’t reveal what the virus was, how it managed to only effect women or where the antidote was. Frustrated and worried, Felicity and Barry headed back to Star Labs. They were met at the door by Cisco, who practically ordered Barry to run to the closest store and get a package of the soda causing everything to happen.

Using the soda, and blood samples from the women at Star Labs, Cisco and Dr. Wells of Earth 2 were able to reverse engineer the antidote. They gave it to Caitlin, Iris, Laurel and Thea. All four women let out numerous burps, farts and other unladylike noises. When they were finished, they’d deflated down to about their normal size. Cisco mentioned the antidote might cause some minor bloating that went away in a few days. With the antidote clearly a success, Star Labs contacted the CCPD as well as the local news stations to inform everyone they’d found a solution and anyone in need of the antidote should contact Star Labs or the CCPD. By the end of the day, all the women in the city were out of danger. They did feel rather humiliated and embarrassed about how much burping, farting and general unpleasantness came along with these events.


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Felicity, Thea and Laurel return to Star City and trouble is brewing

As soon as Felicity, Laurel and Thea made it back to Star City, they were inundated with people making sure they were okay. Felicity let slip to Oliver that Thea and Laurel had been affected by the soda. Based on the reactions, Oliver had told Quentin, John, Sara, Lyla, Roy, and pretty much everyone either woman had ever met. Even Nyssa called Laurel to make sure she was feeling better. It was somewhat surreal. When Felicity admitted the Trickster had sprayed her with his ‘secret ingredient’ everyone began freaking out again.

“That could’ve killed you. You could’ve hit critical mass and-“ Oliver began to say.

“But it didn’t. For whatever reason, his formula doesn’t work on someone with my…..physiology. I swelled up a little but then burped all the gas out. And my burp knocked him out. Which was both gross and kinda awesome at the time.” Felicity said. “I’m fine. They’re still feeling the effects, so worry about them.”

“We’re fine too.” Thea said, before letting out a comically loud burp. “Mostly. The point is, you don’t need to be doing the hovering, mother-henning you’re doing right now.”

Thea and Oliver began to argue. While everyone else was watching that, Laurel pulled Felicity aside. “I was just wondering, was what we went through- is that what you felt like? When your accident first happened?”

“Yes and no. I felt the same as you guys did, being completely and utterly mortified and really uncomfortable. I didn’t have to deal with the same gassy problems or risk of floating away. I grew but my weight grew with me. Why?”

“Until the Trickster happened, I didn’t- I hadn’t thought about what that must’ve felt like. Not knowing what was going on. We kinda focused on ‘why didn’t she tell us’.”

“Yeah, well I guess its one of those things you can’t really explain, you can only experience.” She said. “I’m not angry, by the way, for how you reacted when I came home. I would’ve felt the same if it had happened to someone else.”

Laurel nodded and went to talk to her father. A few moments later, Felicity’s phone rang. The number was restricted but she could guess who it was.

“Hello?”

“My offer still stands, Ms. Smoak.” Amanda Waller said from the other end.

“So does my answer.”

“Fine. Then let me congratulate you on a job well done.” Waller sounded like she was getting a root canal. “You dealt with not one, but two threats that someone with your…..experience should’ve had more difficulty with. You may not want to join ARGUS, but you’ve been an asset to us in the past week.”

“I fought Miranda because she was threatening my home. I stopped the Trickster because I didn’t want anyone to die. It had nothing to do with ARGUS or helping you.” Felicity said.

“If you say so.” Waller replied. Felicity could practically hear the smirk in her voice. “Until next time.”

“I hate her. I really hate her.”

“Who?” Lyla asked.

“Your boss. She called to recruit me again. it’s just- ugh- I could hear her smirking when I said I wasn’t trying to help her when I stopped the Trickster.”

“To Waller, there are only two groups of people. Enemies and assets to ARGUS. You weren’t trying to help the Trickster or Goo-Girl, so you must be an asset.”

That logic sounded exactly like Amanda Waller, so Felicity couldn’t come up with a response to that. “I’m hungry. Anyone else want Big Belly Burger?”

“I’ve got a big enough belly right now as is.” Thea said. Laurel nodded in agreement. They were both still a little bloated from the soda incident. According to Cisco and Caitlin, the bloating would wear off in a few days.

Felicity frowned at that. She really wanted some Big Belly Burger. Oliver hated seeing that look on her face and said he’d go with her. They got a few weird looks from the cashier at the amount of food they were ordering, but ignored it. Everyone was safe, no one blew up and there weren’t any immediate threats to the city. Darhk and HIVE had been very quiet for the last few days.

That night on patrol, Felicity was in the middle of stopping a robbery when one of the robbers recognized her.

“Hey Mike, look. It’s the fat bitch who got naked on national TV.” One of them said as Felicity restrained them.

“Never thought I’d see someone like her outside of a freak show.” The other man, Mike, responded. “So, I’ve been curious about something. When you grow, does everything grow? And when you shrink, does everything shrink? ‘Cause I feel bad for your boyfriend if that’s true. Then he’s gotta pretend to be attracted to you when you’re 600 pounds because it’s the only time you’ve got tits.”

“’Course, he’d never say it. He’s probably scared she’ll sit on him and kill him if he does.” He responded and they both cracked up. An angry look passed over her face. “Oh, I think we hurt her feelings.”

“She’s a freak of nature. She doesn’t have feelings.”

Hearing that, Felicity snapped. She picked up both robbers at once and threw them into the dumpster on the other side of the alley. While they were still startled by her actions, she slammed the lid shut and crushed it a little bit so it couldn’t open easily. She could hear the two would-be robbers yelling to be let out as she walked away.

“Walk it off, Giganta.” Someone said over the comms. “They’re idiots.”

“Doesn’t mean they aren’t right.”

“They aren’t.” Oliver said. “I’ll prove it to you later.”

“Ew. Don’t flirt over the comms, Ollie.” Thea whined. “There’s something real serious happening over by Baker Street. Might be worth checking out.”

“Copy.” Oliver and Felicity both said at the same time.

While Felicity was on her way over, she ran into a few members of HIVE. “Our boss would like a word.”

“Not interested.” She said, trying to move past them.

“It wasn’t a request.” One of them said advancing. They moved to attack, so Felicity was forced to defend herself. She might’ve hit a little harder than she should have, because the next thing she knew, the three Ghosts were unconscious on the ground.

“Oh frack.” She bent down to check their pulses. All three were still alive, so Felicity made a call to SCPD and left. By the time she got to where Oliver was, the situation was already dealt with.


	13. Chapter 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Felicity and the team discuss her Ghost run-in and in Central City, a new threat emerges.

When Oliver and Felicity got back to the foundry, he still hadn’t asked what had happened. He knew she’d run into some kind of trouble or delay while on her way to meet up with him. he didn’t want to ask until he knew they both were safe and in an environment where she could talk freely.

“What happened?”

“What happened with what? I don’t know-“ Felicity began.

“You were heading to Baker Street to help me with the situation Thea caught wind of. I heard you talking to someone followed by fighting over the comms. What happened?”

“I was heading over to meet up with you. I ran into some HIVE members on the way.” She said. “He- they said Darhk wants a word.”

“Damian Darhk wants to see you. Why?”

“I don’t know. it doesn’t matter, one because its not a good thing, and two because I said no. Anyway, they didn’t like being told ‘no’ so they moved in to attack. I defended myself. One of them might have a concussion.”

“Why didn’t you- you should’ve told me right away.”

“I didn’t- I’m telling you now aren’t I?” She said. “It’s not like I was gonna agree.”

“That’s not what I’m worried about.” He said. “If Darhk wants you, its not good, like you said. but he doesn’t take rejection well either. Asking nicely didn’t work, I’m worried about what he’s gonna do now. We should-”

“Tell the team? I know. I just- we don’t know what he wants me for. Or what he knows.”

“What do you-?”

“Best case scenario, he wants Giganta so I can be a human Godzilla and destroy the city. Or he wants to experiment on me so he can make others, like his lunatic followers, like me. But what if that’s not all he’s after. If he knows about what Cisco worked out-“

“He doesn’t.”

“You don’t think he knows, but what if he does?” she countered. “If he knows what’ll happen if I hit critical mass-“

“You aren’t gonna hit critical mass or explode.” Oliver assured her.

“Why do you think Felicity’s going to explode?” Thea asked.

“I can’t expand forever. There’s a certain size I reach where, if I get any bigger, poof.” She mimed something exploding. “It wouldn’t just kill me, it would be like a nuke going off. And if Darhk ever found out-“

“He won’t. We’re not gonna let that happen.” Thea told her.

 

When Felicity went into work the next morning, Mr. Dennis and another board member were waiting in her office. She took a deep breath and prepared herself for whatever conversation they were about to have.

“Good morning, gentlemen.” She greeted them.

“Good morning. The board was hoping for an update on the project with Star Labs.” Dennis began.

Felicity had lied somewhat about her reason for going to Central City. She told them she had a doctor’s appointment, technically true, but then said she thought it was best to stay for an extra day, claiming she might be able to negotiate a project with Star Labs. The board wanted to send someone else to talk with them when they heard the news, but Felicity argued that her friendship with Barry, the current owner, would speed the process along.

“They’re open to a joint venture with us. I wasn’t able to iron out any details or get started on their terms, because of the soda debacle.” She answered. “Some of Mr. Allen’s staff were affected. He was preoccupied.”

“We understand.” The other man said. “I hope you are alright.”

“Why wouldn’t I be?” Felicity asked confused. “Oh, the soda. Fortunately, I’m not a big soda person, so I didn’t drink it. I’m fine. I’m reaching out to Star Labs later today and will keep the board apprised of any developments.” Both men accepted her answer and left the office. 

* * *

 

**Central City**

Kitty Faulkner was shelving books on the second floor of the city library when her stomach began to rumble. Looking at the time, she realized it was way past her normal lunch time and thought she should head to Jitters for something to tide her over. She told one of her coworkers where she was heading before leaving the library.

Her workplace was half a mile away from the closest Jitters, so she decided to walk. With every step she took, her stomach became more and more upset at being empty. She was about halfway there, walking through the park, when the hunger consumed her. She felt herself change, which scared her. She’d been hungry in the past, but never so hungry that she started changing.

“Hungry!” she heard herself roar.

Behind her, other people in the park began to panic and scream.


	14. Chapter 14

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Felicity and Team Flash deal with a new threat.

“Hungry!” Kitty heard herself roar.

She looked down to realize she was a lot higher up than she should be. Clearly, whatever change she’d gone through had made her get taller. For a moment, she was horrified to find that her shirt had come off and she was standing there  in just her dress pants and sports bra. She supposed that was better than being naked though. What was most shocking wasn’t her change in size, it was her skin. It had turned bright orange.

Behind her, other people in the park began to panic and scream. Then, everyone ran in separate directions. Evidently, someone who’d seen her called the police, because soon a dozen CCPD officers were surrounding her with their guns drawn.

“Calm down. We can resolve this so that nobody gets hurt.” One of the officers said into a megaphone. “You don’t need to hurt anyone.”

“Not want to hurt anyone.” She told them. “Want to eat. Rampage hungry!” Several of the officers gulped and a few gripped their weapons tighter. They weren’t exactly sure what she was hungry for and worried that she might be hungry for people. “Move!” Her belly began to bulge and inflated as they refused to move. Soon, her entire stomach was filled with air.

“We can’t do that. You might-.”

Before the officer could finish, Rampage let out an incredibly loud burp. It was so loud and forceful that it knocked the officer that was speaking off his feet and the windows of several police cruisers broke. In the few seconds it took the other officers to react, she took off.

She didn’t know where she was going, but she needed to eat and she needed to eat now.

* * *

 

**Star City**

Felicity was in her office, catching up on some of the paperwork she’d been avoiding for days when her phone rang. She knew she needed to finish what she was doing and didn’t answer. They’d leave a message. The ringing stopped for a second before it started up again. She ignored the call once again. Then, the caller tried for a third time, which made Felicity feel uneasy. Finally looking at the device, she saw that the calls were from Cisco.

“I’m guessing this isn’t a social call.”

“Yeah, we kinda- we could use your help. Again.” he said. “There’s kinda- there’s a giant, angry, orange woman running around the city and we don’t know why. These kinds of people are more your area than Barry’s.”

“What are you asking me to do?” she said. She’d only fought one other giant woman before and that ended with Miranda being turned into a puddle of goo and being washed down a storm drain.

“Except for when the police cornered her, she hasn’t attacked anyone but she’s still kinda wreaking havoc on the city. Barry can do a lot of things, but his speed won’t stop her from causing a lot of damage.”

“So, your solution to a giant woman wreaking havoc on the city is to call in another giant woman.” she said.

“It’s not a perfect plan, I know. but it’s the only one we’ve got right now.”

“You know it’ll take me a few hours to get there, right?” Felicity asked. She couldn’t fly and Barry couldn’t just run her to Central City.

“No, it won’t.” he said cryptically. “You’re in your office, right?”

“Uh, yeah. Why?” she asked. A second later, a portal opened behind her and Cisco stepped through. “Since when can you do that?”

“Did it for the first time last week. Let’s go.” He said, motioning for her to step through the portal.

* * *

 

**Central City**

When Felicity stepped through the portal Cisco created, she found herself in the Cortex.

“I’m using traffic cam footage to track Rampage. I didn’t name her that, for the record, that’s what she called herself when the cops showed up. She hasn’t moved in ten minutes.”

“Where exactly is she?” she asked him.

He walked over to the computer to look. “No, that can’t be right. It doesn’t make-“

“Cisco, where is she?”

“At an all-you-can-eat buffet two miles from here.” He answered.

The blonde grew bigger, about eight feet tall, and pulled her goggles out. “Ok, let’s go see what she wants.”

Getting to the buffet was easy for Felicity. Someone must’ve called in Rampage’s arrival, because there was no one within a block of the building and the police were setting up a barricade. She strolled straight past them towards the restaurant.

“Stop!” one of the officers yelled at her. “This is a police matter and-.”

“What’s your plan for dealing with her exactly?” she interrupted him to ask. “Because the last time the police approached her, it didn’t end well. Thankfully, no one was seriously hurt though. And from the looks of things, you don’t have the right tools to make this time any different.”

“And you do?”

“I stand a better chance of stopping her if she tries something than you do.” she answered before raising a giant hand and pointing behind the officer. “Don’t believe me, ask him.”

Barry had sped over to where the barricade was going up. “She’s a friend, officer. And our best chance to resolve this peacefully.”

“She attacked Sergeant Mills, I don’t think she wants peace.”

“She was surrounded by people aiming guns at her face. I’m not saying what she did was right, but I can understand it.” Felicity said. “Are you going to move or should I go around you?”

The officer stepped out of the way. Felicity approached the restaurant and walked inside. She immediately saw a large, orange figure standing in front of buffet tables with her back to her. A group of employees were huddled in the corner, trying to avoid attention. Felicity looked at them, then turned and looked at the door she’d just walked through, and looked back at them. They sprinted towards the door, which Rampage didn’t even notice.

Felicity cleared her throat. “Um, hi.”

The woman looked over her shoulder said, “Go away” and then went back to shoving food into her mouth.

“I can’t do that. I just wanna talk.”

“Rampage not want to talk. Rampage want to eat.”

“Ok, you eat and I’ll talk then. I know you’re scared and confused, that’s okay. I don’t think you want to hurt anyone. So please, tell me, what do you want?”

“Rampage told you, all Rampage want is to eat.”

“That’s why you came here after the park, isn’t it? When the police surrounded you and you lashed out.”

“Rampage was hungry. Police not want to let Rampage eat. So Rampage let out burp to move head police out of way, then Rampage come here.”

“Has this happened before?” Felicity wondered.

“Rampage almost come out a few times. Faulkner eat before Rampage can come out last time.”

“So, you only came out because Faulkner was hungry?”

“Must be very hungry.” She answered before letting out a groan. “Rampage stomach hurts.”

Looking around, Felicity could understand why. Every station of the buffet had been licked clean. Clearly, she’d overeaten by a large margin. She could also hear the woman’s stomach churning and guessed the overeating was causing her to have a stomachache. She wasn’t sure what to do, and was about to head outside to tell the police everything was okay, when Rampage began to get smaller. She couldn’t tear her eyes away as the seven foot tall, muscular orange woman turned into a mousy-looking brunette who couldn’t have been taller than 5’5”. Her stomach was distended from all the food she’d consumed and she was stuffed to the gills.

“What- who- what happened?” She asked Felicity. “You’re that woman from the news, Giganta.”

“Yeah, I- stay here for a second. I’ll be right back.” she said before running out the door. The police stiffened when they saw her and wanted answers. “Everything’s fine. Everyone except the Flash should go.”

“What does she want?”

“Why did she come here?”

“Why do you need the Flash?”

“It doesn’t matter. The situation is dealt with and I’m sure other citizens needs your help right now.” She told them. “Go.” They started to clear out, but Barry stayed. They walked into the building where Kitty was sitting in a chair, clutching her stomach and groaning. “She was hungry. All of this happened because she was hungry. We need to get her to Star Labs.”


	15. Chapter 15

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Felicity and Team Flash try to get to the bottom of Rampage's condition

“She was hungry. All of this happened because she was hungry. We need to get her to Star Labs.” Felicity told Barry. He picked Kitty up and sped out of the building. Felicity shrunk down to her normal size and headed in the same direction.

When she got to Star Labs, Caitlin had already started running tests on Kitty, who still didn’t know what happened.

“Will someone tell me whats going on?”

“What do you remember?” Barry asked.

“I was at work and began feeling hungry. I was heading to Jitters and decided to take a shortcut through the park. Next thing I know, I was at that buffet place with Giganta and felt so full I could barely move.”

“But you don’t remember leaving the park or how you got to the buffet?”

“Nope. Is- did something happen to me?”

“We don’t-.”

“We’re not sure.” Felicity said trying to comfort her. “We brought you here to try and figure it out.”

“How do you remember feeling right before you blacked out?” Caitlin asked.

“Hungry. Unbelievably hungry. It felt like I hadn’t eaten in days.”

“And do you recall having a similar feeling in the past?”

“Yes, over the last year or so. Until today, I’ve been fortunate enough to manage to eat before it got too bad or I blacked out.” She answered. “I’ve been meaning to go see my physician, but kept pushing it off. Do you think I have a condition?”

“There are a number of conditions that explain the hunger, but none of those explain why you would have gaps in your memory.” Caitlin said as she drew blood from her arm. She didn’t want to tell Kitty she’d gone into a fugue state, undergone a physical transformation and changed back once her ‘alter ego’ was satisfied.  At least, not until they knew a little bit more about Kitty and Rampage.

While Caitlin and Cisco tried to solve the mystery surrounding Kitty, Barry and Felicity changed into their normal clothes and waited. During the wait, the pair came up with an idea to tell the Palmer Tech board about their meeting and collaboration.

Their conversation was interrupted when a distraught Caitlin came into the hallway. “We may have a problem.”

“What is it?”

“I tested Kitty’s blood and it didn’t show any abnormalities.”

“That’s good, though.”

“I didn’t want her to leave here without an answer, so I gave her an MRI. There’s dark matter in her body, mostly surrounding her hypothalamus gland.”

“Ok, what does that mean? I thought the hypothalamus was in the brain.” Barry said.

“It is. Your hypothalamus gland is the part of the brain that, among other things, interprets signals from the stomach and tell you when you’re hungry.”

“So, she’s a metahuman, we know that because dark matter, but the particle accelerator explosion only affected part of her brain.” Felicity said.

“Wait, you said ‘most of it’ was surrounding the gland, what about the rest of it?”

“Her stomach and in her frontal lobe. The stomach is expected, the frontal lobe isn’t. That’s where neuroscientists have concluded things like personality are stored.” Caitlin answered.

“You know, that kinda makes sense. I mean, I’m not a psychologist, but based on what she told us, Rampage sounds an awful lot like a separate personality. When she gets hungry, the dark matter in body activates and Rampage takes over.”

“So because of Thawne, she has DID now.”

“Doesn’t explain the physical transformation. The alter ego makes sense, the hunger makes sense, but I don’t know how that explains her turning from a mousy librarian to a seven-foot-tall orange woman.”

“I’d say the dark matter. It can affect people’s whole bodies, it could cause the physical change.”

“Have you talked to her yet?” Barry asked.

“No, not yet. I didn’t- I’m not sure how to explain it.”

Before anyone else could talk, the door of the room Kitty was waiting in was yanked open. “I gotta go.”

“What? Why? I haven’t- we don’t know what caused your blackout yet.”

“I used your phone to call my boss. The library- they’re firing me because I didn’t come back from my lunch break. I need to- I have to go talk to them to keep my job.”

“You really shouldn’t leave until we figure out what happened. What if it happens again?”

“I’ll deal with it. I really need this job.” She moved to walk around where Caitlin was blocking her path.

“Ms. Faulkner, we haven’t met, I’m Barry Allen.” Barry said introducing himself.

“Nice to meet you, but I have to go.”

“I’d like to make you an offer. If the library doesn’t give you back your job, I’d like to hire you. We could really use an archivist. We haven’t- the last year has been rough.”

It was a win-win for Kitty and the Star Labs team. This way, she would have a job and they could keep an eye on her as they learned more about her abilities and how to contain them.

“I- may I think about it?” Everything was happening too fast in her opinion.

“Of course.” She gave him a small smile and turned to leave.

“Wait.” Cailtin said as she followed after her. “There’s one question I forgot to ask you earlier and it might be important.”

“What is it?”

“Were you in Central City the night the particle accelerator exploded?”

“Yes, I was on my way home from work.”


	16. Chapter 16

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kitty deals with the aftermath of her time as Rampage and Team Flash makes a dumb decision.

“Were you in Central City the night the particle accelerator exploded?” Caitlin asked.

“Yes, I was on my way home from work.” Kitty answered. “Why?”

“There’s a chance your symptoms could be related. I don’t want to rule anything out. I’ll run some tests on the blood we took and give you a call when I have the results.”

“Thanks.” Kitty left to head back to work.

She felt a little foolish, going into work dressed in a Star Labs hoodie and sweatpants, but it was the only clothes she had. Somewhere between the park and the buffet Giganta found her in, her clothes had gone missing. She felt even more self-conscious when she entered the library; she felt exposed, like everyone’s eyes were on her. She walked over to the circulation desk and greeted her co-worker.

“Is Michael here, I need to talk to him.”

“Yeah, he’s back in his office. I think he’s expecting you.”

That sounded ominous to Kitty and she tried to figure out what to say as she walked down the hall to the library director’s office. The door was open but she knocked anyway to be polite.

“Hello, Kitty.” He said looking up from his paperwork. “We both know why you’re here, so let’s not get wrapped up in the formalities.”

“You’re firing me.”

“I don’t have a choice. You’ve put me in an unfortunate position.”

“How? I went to lunch and didn’t come back on time because I needed medical attention. I don’t understand how taking a long lunch once means I’m fired. I’ve been a hard-working and dedicated employee for years. How does that put you in a bad position?”

“This isn’t the first time it’s happened, Kitty.” He said in a neutral tone.

“Wha- I- yes it is.”

“No, it’s not. Today you disappeared during your lunch break. Last week, you didn’t come to work at all one day. You’ve been missing work or disappearing mid-shift on and off for the last few months.” He said. “We need staff we can depend on and lately, you haven’t been reliable. I’m sorry.”

Kitty nodded, too angry for words, turned and left. She wanted to argue with him. She wanted to explain that she’d been having blackouts and that was why she was missing work, but she didn’t. He hadn’t asked why she missed work last week. He hadn’t asked if there was something going on. She told him she had a medical emergency and he didn’t even ask if she was okay. The more she thought about it, the less she was upset about losing her job. Or maybe she wasn’t upset because of Barry Allen’s offer. She went home, calmed herself down and called Star Labs, asking if the job was still open. It was and she said she could start as early as the next day.

 

“You need to tell her.” Felicity said as Barry’s call with Kitty ended.

“I don’t- are you sure?”

“Yes. Its her body, she deserves to know what’s happening to her.” she argued.

“It might be nothing. I mean, as long as we keep her fed, Rampage won’t return. Why worry her over something controllable?”

“Ok, lets go down that road. What if Rampage isn’t as easy to satiate as you think? Or what if hunger isn’t the only thing that makes Rampage come out? Then, you’ll have to tell her what’s going on and explain that you knew what was happening to her but didn’t think she deserved to know.”

“We’ll tell her, just not yet.” Barry said.

 

Kitty wasn’t sure how she felt when she arrived at Star Labs for her first day. She was excited for the new opportunity, but also was still angry about losing her other job, concerned about what was happening to her and suspicious of some of the staff. When they asked about the particle accelerator explosion, she could tell they knew something they weren’t sharing with her.

Trying to push all of that aside, she took a deep breath before walking into the building. For such a large building, there didn’t seem to be a lot of staff milling around. She headed to HR and spent an hour or so filling out paperwork before someone from security escorted her to where she’d be working.

“Feel like I should warn you, we haven’t had an archivist since the night of the accident.” The guard said. “So, you’ve definitely got your work cut out for you.”

“How bad could it really be?” she said as they entered the archives room. “Ok, that’s pretty bad, but I’ve seen worse.”

It seemed like Kitty had only been working for ten minutes when someone knocked on the door. She looked up to see a Hispanic man with long black hair standing in the doorway. “Hey, we haven’t met, I’m Cisco.”

“Kitty Faulkner.”

“I just wanted to say ‘hi’, welcome you to Star Labs, and remind you there’s always snacks and stuff in the breakroom down the hall. I can grab you something if you want.”

“Thanks, but I think I’m good for now.”

“If you’re sure.” He said before walking away.

Cisco was the first of several employees to introduce themselves before reminding Kitty to eat. She didn’t know why they were so concerned with her eating habits but it was starting to become annoying. Around lunchtime, Kitty left the archives to eat and it felt like everyone in the building released a sigh of relief when they saw her eat.

The strange behavior continued for several days. Multiple times a day, someone would remind her to eat and everyone seemed on edge until they witnessed her feeding herself. She also had the feeling someone was watching her, expecting her to do something. She never saw anyone, but had the feeling nonetheless.

At the end of her third day, Kitty was on the other side of the building for her check-up with Caitlin when she overheard the doctor talking to someone.

“Dark matter aside, she seems fine. She’s been eating regularly and her behavior doesn’t concern me. We haven’t had a sighting or even a glimpse of Rampage since the incident last week.”

“So, you think that was a fluke and Kitty’s fine?”

“I’m saying we should keep an eye on her, but I don’t think she’s a threat.”

“Why would I be a threat?” Kitty asked as she walked into the room. Caitlin, Barry and Cisco all had panicked expressions on their faces. “What aren’t you telling me?”


	17. Chapter 17

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Team Flash's lies catch up to them

“I’m saying we should keep an eye on her, but I don’t think she’s a threat.”

“Why would I be a threat?” Kitty asked as she walked into the room. Caitlin, Barry and Cisco all had panicked expressions on their faces. “What aren’t you telling me?”

“I- we weren’t talking about you.” Barry said.

“Really? Because I just heard you say my name. Tell me the truth.”

“When the particle accelerator exploded, it unleashed a wave of dark matter. Some people, you included, began going through changes.”

“What kinds of changes?”

“It varies. The dark matter created the Flash. It also gave a bank robber the ability to manipulate weather.”

“And what did it do to me?”

“It kinda- well, I don’t quite-“

“Better question, how long have you known I was affected?” she asked angrily.

“The day we met.” Caitlin admitted.

“And you were going to tell me when? Were you going to tell me?”

“We- um, well, here’s the-“

“Stop lying to me.” She shouted. The voice didn’t sound like hers though. It was deeper and more guttural. The three scientists jerked backwards as Kitty’s eyes began to glow a dull orange color. She felt the room and the three people in front of her get smaller.

“Hey, Kitty. Let’s just calm down for a second.” Barry started to say. If he could calm Kitty down before she turned into Rampage, then there was a chance things would turn out fine. If Rampage did surface, there was a risk someone could get hurt, including Kitty herself.

“No! Rampage angry!” The orange giant yelled as she punched a wall.

“Oh crap.” Barry grabbed Caitlin and sped out of the room as Cisco opened a breach to get himself out of the room. Once Rampage was alone, she started taking her frustrations out on the lab she was in.

“What do we do?”

“We need to seal the room so she can’t get out and hurt anyone.”

“That doesn’t really solve the problem. Locking her in might just make her angrier.”

“Well, I don’t have another solution right now. She can’t stay angry forever and its better if she expresses her anger in a contained area. Lab equipment isn’t that hard to replace.”

With no other viable choice, Barry entered the code to seal the lab so Rampage couldn’t get out. it felt a lot like putting a bandage over a gaping wound.

“How did this happen? I thought her….transformation was linked to her being hungry.”

“Well, we clearly missed something.”

“Felicity was right. We should’ve told her right away. she predicted something like this would happen.” Barry said. “Do you think she might be able to help?”

“How?”

“Well, Giganta’s the only person Rampage has seen that didn’t attack her. She might be able to talk her down or something like last time.”

“I guess its worth a shot.” Caitlin said.

Cisco opened a breach and stepped through. A few moments later, he and Felicity stepped out.

“Warn me before you do that next time.” she yelled. “You can’t just open portals anywhere you want, anytime you want. What if I wasn’t there? What if I’d been in the middle of a meeting or a presentation? My board already hates me for not firing a quarter of my employees.”

“I’m sorry, I didn’t really have a choice. We’ve got….a situation.”

“What is it this time?” She wasn’t trying to judge but it seemed like Team Flash needed her help way more often recently. She wouldn’t have minded if they needed her tech expertise, but it was always Giganta they wanted it seemed. It was starting to give her a complex.

“Kitty Faulkner. She kinda- she overheard us talking about her condition and-“

“And let me guess, you didn’t take my advice to tell her the truth. Then, she found out the truth and got pissed.”

“Yeah, turns out Rampage isn’t just linked to her hunger. No idea how you predicted that.”

“Most of the dark matter is in her brain. The hypothalamus gland isn’t the only thing that it could affect. Her neurons, neurotransmitters, dopamine and serotonin levels. I guessed if the dark matter changed her hypothalamus, it might’ve changed those too.” She explained. “Where is she?”

“We kinda had to….lock her in Caitlin’s lab. We were hoping you could talk to her.”

“Me? Why me?”

“Rampage seemed to like you last time. We’re hoping you can calm her down or something.”

“Fine. I’ll try but no promises.” Felicity said as she removed her extra clothing, leaving only her Giganta suit on, and grew a little bit. She wanted to be eye-level with her when they spoke. “Someone wanna unlock the door?”

Instead, Cisco created another breach and told Felicity to step through. Inside the lab, Rampage had knocked over or crushed several pieces of equipment. By this point, she’d resorted to just throwing things around.

“Hey…”

“Go away! Rampage angry.” the orange woman growled.

“Why are you angry?”

“Doctor lie to Faulkner. Know what’s wrong but not tell her. Make Faulkner angry and Rampage come out.”

“So, you came out because Kitty got angry they lied.”

“That what Rampage say.”

“I know you’re angry. I know she’s angry. And the doctor was wrong not to tell you the truth. She told me she’d tell Kitty everything but she thinks it’ll be easier if everyone’s calm.”

“Rampage not surprised. Doctor is scared of Rampage. Worried I might smash her.”

“Are you going to smash her?”

“No, want doctor to tell Faulkner the truth.”

“I’ll make sure she does that. Can you let Kitty come back now?” She said. “Just take a few deep breaths.”

After a few moments of Felicity and Rampage breathing in unison, Rampage began to shrink and turned back into Kitty. She looked around the room and saw the destruction. “Wha- what happened?”

“I’ll go get Dr. Snow and she’ll explain.”

“No, she- she lied to me. That’s the last thing I remember.”


	18. Chapter 18

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kitty, Felicity and Team Flash have a long overdue discussion

“I’ll go get Dr. Snow and she’ll explain.” Felicity was still dressed as Giganta but shrunk down to close to her normal height.

“No, she- she lied to me. That’s the last thing I remember.” Kitty told her.

“I talked to her. She wants to tell you the truth. Please give her a chance.”

“Fine. Bring her in here then.”

She unlocked the door of the lab and told Caitlin, and only Caitlin, to come in. Felicity didn’t want to tempt fate by having Cisco and Barry also be in the room. Plus, she thought Kitty deserved her privacy. She was about to leave, but Kitty asked her to stay.

“What’s wrong with me?”

“You were affected by the dark matter wave created by the particle accelerator explosion.” Caitlin began.

“I remember that much before I blacked out. I don’t remember you telling me how I was affected.”

“It’s, well, the dark matter isn’t contained to one part of your body. A copious amount of it resides in your hypothalamus gland, with a smaller amount in your myenteric plexus.”

“What does that mean to someone who didn’t go to medical school?”

“Most of its in your brain, some of its in your stomach. The part in your brain is in the most primal part of the brain. The section that control the bodily functions you don’t have to think about. Your heartbeat, breathing, the digestive processes. It’s also the part of the brain that tells you when you’re hungry.” She explained. “It seems to be working in tandem with the dark matter in the muscles of your stomach, for the most part. I say that because when you get hungry, you undergo some drastic changes.”

“What do you mean by ‘drastic changes’?”

“You transform into a large, orange woman and eat ravenous until you’re literally stuffed to the gills and transform back. That’s why you woke up in that buffet place.”

“If that’s true, then why don’t I feel like I did then, now? I was so full I couldn’t move and felt really uncomfortable, but I feel relatively fine now.”

“Because our assumptions were wrong. We believed hunger was the only thing that made Rampage-“

“Rampage?”

“You called yourself that when I first talked to you at the buffet.” Felicity cut in.

“We thought hunger was the only thing that triggered a transformation. That’s why certain staff members have been pestering you to eat. If you never get hungry, Rampage never comes out.”

“But you were wrong?”

“Yes, there’s- earlier when you discovered I’d hidden the truth from you, you got angry. That anger caused a transformation as well. We believe, but have no evidence so far, that your hypothalamus wasn’t the only area in your brain that was effective.”

“Ok, why didn’t you tell me any of this at the beginning? I’m a little fuzzy, but you’ve known for a while about my ‘conndition’.”

“We were hoping preventative measures would be enough. If they werent, we didn’t want to tell you about the problem without having a solution.”

“You mean you didn’t have a way to contain me if something happened.”

 “As a last resort, yes. We were looking for a way to help you manage it, not contain you if we couldn’t.”

“Ok, why do I keep waking up near Giganta though. She works in Star City.” It seemed odd to her that the last two times she’d ‘woken up’ from a blackout, one of Star City’s heroes was there.

“At first, it was because they didn’t know why you’d become Rampage. They thought the answer to a giant woman possibly wreaking havoc was to send a different giant woman in to deal with it. This time, it was because the first time we met, it didn’t go so badly.” Felicity admitted. “They understood you were angry and didn’t want to send in someone who would’ve made you angrier.”

“You know if you’d told me this from the beginning, I wouldn’t have reacted the way I did.” Kitty said. “I would’ve had questions, but being lied to, more than anything else, tends to set me off.” she took a deep breath. “What happens now?”

“Now, we train you. We can’t undo the changes to your body, so you need to learn to live with them.” Barry said as he and Cisco snuck into the room. They hadn’t heard any shouting, so they guessed it was all clear.

“Luckily, they’ve done it before.” Felicity said encouragingly. “And unlike me, you won’t go boom.”

“We could use your help.”

“I kinda have things to take care of in Star City. And my board isn’t buying the excuses I keep giving them for needing to be in Central City.”

“Well, Star Labs wants to collaborate with Palmer Tech and I’ll only negotiate with one person, so they’ll have to deal with it. If it helps, I can send something all corporate and official to them to get them off your back.”

“It would, but it’ll only buy me a week.”

“Felicity Smoak.” Kitty said, somewhat shocked.

“What?”

“Felicity Smoak is Giganta. How did I not guess that?”

“Well, no one’s ever used the words ‘Felicity’ and ‘giant’ in the same sentence.” Cisco joked.

“Don’t be mean.” She told him. “I’d appreciate it if you didn’t tell anyone who I am. Ever. My life’s….it’s complicated enough as is.”


	19. Chapter 19

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Felicity and Kitty train, and run into some trouble.

Kitty changed into a Star Labs t-shirt and sweatpants before they began training. The clothes she wore to work were destroyed when she turned into Rampage and, even if they hadn’t, working out in a pencil skirt and blouse wasn’t a good idea. Cisco, Caitlin and Barry hadn’t arrived just yet, as all three were off gathering things they might need.

While the two women were waiting, Kitty asked a question she’d been thinking about for the last several minutes.

“What did you mean when you said ‘unlike me, you won’t go boom’?”

“Oh, yeah. That. I’m not Giganta because of the dark matter wave. I got my….abilities as the result of a lab accident. Given how my body changes to grow in size, if I reach a certain size, I’ll kinda explode.” She answered. She left out the part about the explosion being similar to a nuclear bomb going off, since she didn’t plan on getting that large again, ever, and thus it wouldn’t be a problem. Kitty was about to ask for clarification when Felicity’s phone started to ring. “Frack! I knew I forgot something. Hi, hon.”

“Where are you? Are you okay? I called your office and you weren’t there.” Oliver asked.

“Yeah, no. I’m fine. Barry kinda- there was a situation in Central City and they needed my help. Or Giganta’s anyway.”

“Is everything okay? Should I be there too?”

“No, no. it’s fine, everything’s under control. I saved the day! But I need to stay for another day or two.”

“Why?” He asked. Oliver was relieved Felicity was okay and happy she was excited about ‘saving the day’ but he missed her and didn’t want her to be gone for so long, especially with HIVE looking for her.

“I promised someone I’d help them with something. I don’t want to break it.” she told him. “I’ll call you in a few hours and see you in a few days.” They said their goodbyes and the call ended right as Cisco came into the room.

“And voila!” He said holding up something that looked like a watch.

“What is that?”

“Heartrate monitor. Caitlin looked over the data from when you became Rampage earlier, we have all kinds of sensors in the ceilings and walls. Anyway, your heartbeat accelerates when you’re going to transform. We figured it would be a good idea to make something to monitor your heartrate and warn you when you’re in danger of turning into Rampage.”

She took the device from his hands and secured it around her wrist. “Thanks. What do I do when I’m about to turn into her though?”

“Eat if you’re hungry. Try to center yourself if you feel angry or stressed. Preventative stuff.”

“You know that’s a bit of a gamble right?” Felicity said. “No offense to you, Kitty, but nothing’s more stressful than being told you have to relax. There’s gonna be a learning curve there, that’s all I’m saying.”

“It’s gonna take some adjusting to, yes.”

They talked for a little bit more about how to prevent Rampage from surfacing and what to do if she did. Felicity, being the only other person capable of changing size, gave Kitty plenty of advice about what to do when it happened. She’d bursted out her clothes enough times in the last month to know how embarrassing it was and wouldn’t wish it on someone else.

After about 20 minutes, it was time to get to actual training. Cisco handed Kitty one of the prototype outfits he’d made for Felicity and told her to change into it. Then, Caitlin suggested they purposefully trigger Rampage so they could talk with her.

The conversation with the giant orange woman was much more productive this time around. Felicity was able to teach her a little bit about how to control her strength when she was this size so she wouldn’t hurt anyone. When that lesson was done, she turned back into Kitty and changed back into her workout clothes.

“Can we got get food?” Kitty asked as soon as she’d changed. “I’m hungry.”

“Yeah, lets go. I’m hungry too.”

“I feel like I shouldn’t be this hungry. Between how much Rampage tends to eat and how bloated I still feel from her last binge.”

“You might be a little like me. Caitlin should look into that.” Felicity suggested. “Even when I’m not Giganta-size, I still need to eat like I am. Which means eating like 7,000 calories a day.”

“How do you even do that?”

“Big Belly Burger and a boyfriend who loves to cook. Come on, there’s a great Mexican place down the street from here.”

Felicity and Kitty spent about an hour and a half at the restaurant, eating almost the entire time. They were sure the staff was stupefied by their ability to eat so much so quickly, but they were too hungry, and then too full, to care. It was around dusk when they were heading back to Star Labs.

“Ugh, I know I have to eat but I’m so gassy right now, its not even funny. Maybe that last burrito wasn’t the best idea.” The librarian remarked. Her belly, which had been a little noticeable before they went into the restaurant, had expanded significantly by the time they left.

“Sorry. That’s the downside to being like this.” Felicity grew a little bit, subconsciously, while they were walking. It sometimes happened when she ate a lot in one sitting as opposed to the numerous little meals she normally had. She only grew to about seven feet tall, but it was noticeable to the average person.

“It keeps getting worse though. Ever since the buffet, I’m getting gassier and gassier, and more bloated.” She put a hand over her stomach, which had expanded so much that it looked like she was at least eight months pregnant. “It’s been what, a few hours and I went from some slight bloating to looking like I’m five seconds away from going into labor. This isn’t normal.”

“Have you told anyone at the lab that?” It seemed like something they should know in order to better help Kitty.

The pair were less than a block away from Star Labs when a group of men dressed in black stepped out of the shadows surrounding them. Felicity recognized them as Ghosts.

“You’re coming with us.”

“No, we’re not.”

“We aren’t interested in you. Just her.” The leader said, gesturing towards Giganta. “Our boss wants a word.”

 “Too bad.”

“I wanted to do this the easy way, but-“ he said as they aimed their weapons at the pair.

Kitty, having a gun pointed in her face, began to panic. Her stomach, which was already very round, began to inflate even more. It looked like an overinflated yoga ball. Her shirt rode up and her belly button, which was an innie, had popped out so it looked like an outie. She knew her heartrate was skyrocketing and could feel Rampage getting closer to coming out. Her wristwatch heart monitor was going crazy. She tried to relax, but relaxing was impossible in this circumstance. The uncomfortable pocket of gas in her stomach chose that moment to make itself known. She let loose a deafening burp that knocked all the Ghosts backwards. Felicity turned to look at her in shock.

“Uh, that was really gross.” Kitty said feeling awkward.

“A little, but it stopped them so I’m not judging.” She responded. “We should go before they recover though.”

She might have to cut her trip short. Clearly, Darhk’s interest in Felicity hadn’t gone away or lessened in the last few weeks. It was concerning to say the least.


	20. Chapter 20

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After HIVE's attack, Felicity returns to Star City and learns what's been going on since she left

After the Ghosts’ attack, Felicity and Kitty rushed to Star Labs. The archivist needed to tell Barry and the others what had happened when they shoved a gun in her face, how her stomach had inflated to the point of looking comical and she let out a loud, powerful burp that knocked them back. The hacker needed to get her stuff and get back to Star City. When the pair entered the building, Felicity’s gait became more determined.

“Cisco!” She yelled. She needed to get back home. Now. Team Flash was perfectly able to help Kitty without her and cell phones did exist. She stormed into his workshop to find him tinkering with something. “I need you to open a breach back to Star City.”

“What? Why?”

“I need to go home.”

“You’re leaving? But we- we still need your help, Kitty still needs your help.”

“She has you guys and I’m just a phone call away.” She reasoned. “But I really, really need to go.”

“Okay.” Cisco said. seeing how serious she was. He opened a breach in his lab.

She stepped through the portal and found herself standing in the loft. Due to time zones, Star City was an hour behind Central City and it was still light out. The blonde was debating what to do now, and how she was going to tell Oliver about what happened in Central City when the door behind her burst open. Oliver was holding a kitchen knife and standing in the doorway.

“Woah, hey, its just me. it’s Felicity.” she said with her hands raised.

He lowered the weapon. “Felicity? Sorry, I thought someone had broken in. How did you-?”

“I told Cisco I needed to go home and he opened a breach into our guest room for some reason.”

“Some warning would’ve been nice. I thought you were staying for a few more days?”

“I was going to, but then- I kinda got cornered by some Ghosts. I got away but-.”

“Are you okay? Did they hurt you? What did they want?”

“Same thing as last time. Darhk wants to talk to me.”

“And does he- does he know who you are?”

“I don’t think so. Both times he’s sent Ghosts after me, I’ve been….big, so my face looked swollen. I guess that’s the one upside to turning into a human beach ball. No one can really tell who I am.”

“We need to be more careful from now on. If HIVE is interested in you, it isn’t for anything good.” He sighed. “And the timing couldn’t be worse. Between this and the situation with Ray-“

“What situation with Ray? What happened? Did they-?” After the accident, Ray’s body had never been found.

“He’s alive.” He told her. “We- he sent a transmission that your system picked up early this morning.”

“Well, what happened? Where is he? What did it say?”

“It said he’s alive and he’s in trouble. I’ve got one of your programs running to trace it but-“

“But its taking a while. Why didn’t you call me?”

“I was going to, but when I called you earlier today, you sounded kinda stressed and busy so I figured we’d try to handle the situation and make things easier for you.”

“Did you find anything?”

“Not yet.” He admitted. “We should get to the bunker. The search is already running but-“

“Say no more, let’s go.” Felicity said practically sprinting out of the room.

When they got to the bunker, the first thing Felicity did was watch the video message Ray managed to send out. Ray had survived the explosion due to his suit. While he was tampering with the nanites, his suit shrunk him down to a very small size. The explosion happened seconds later and he was flung out of the building. Someone found him in his shrunken form and took him prisoner. He needed help with two things: getting away from the people holding him and getting back to his normal size. He had schematics to build a device to resize him, but someone had to build it. They worked nonstop that night trying to find Ray, with no success.

The next day, Felicity went into Palmer Tech and spent the whole day with Curtis, trying to build a machine to resize Ray. They couldn’t get very far, due to the fact they needed a quantum manifold that Kord Industries had patented to complete the device.

The next few days went pretty much the same. The day after Felicity came back, they got another message from Ray. While he was transmitting it, his captor noticed and appeared in the background. Damian Darhk was the person who had found him. This kicked Felicity’s need to find him into high gear.

To make matters worse, Donna had come to visit. Felicity loved her mother, but she didn’t have the best timing. Her friend’s life was on the line right now and she didn’t need her mother coming to town and distracting her at a time like this. The visit from her mom led to her fighting with Oliver which just made the whole situation more tense. She knew she was being irrational about all of this, but didn’t care.

The team broke into Kord Industries and stole the manifold. She and Curtis finished building the resizing device. Now, all they needed to do was find Ray.


	21. Chapter 21

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Felicity is back in Star City and the team really needs to find Ray

After running for several hours, Felicity’s program finally managed to track down where Ray’s message had come from. The signal had bounced off nearly every cell tower in Starling, but with time and effort, he wasn’t that hard to find. The only problem was that Ray was in a secure building that was next to impossible to break into and heavily guarded by Hive. It took the team the better part of an hour to come up with a plan about what to do about Ray and how to get him out of Hive’s hands. Darhk wanted the tech from Ray’s suit for a reason, and given who Darhk was, the reason definitely wasn’t good.

It was decided that John would disguise himself as a Hive member, ‘capture’ Oliver and while Darhk was focused on him, he’d disable the security system so that Laurel, Sara, Thea and Felicity could break into the building. Curtis Holt would be parachuting in so that they could resize Ray in the field and have another person on their side when trying to break out.

The first part of the plan worked perfectly. John captured Oliver and left him tied up for Darhk. He then turned off the security system so that Sara, Laurel and Thea could enter and engage the guards inside. One or two Ghosts recognized Giganta and she was forced to fight her way through the crowd. It seemed like the other three women had a handle on things pretty quickly, so she changed out of her Giganta disguise and ran through the building to find where John had told her to meet him after the lure for Darhk was set.

Darhk was about to take Oliver’s mask off when the archer broke free of his restraints and attacked him. He fired a few arrows at the man, but he knocked them off course before using his magic to wrap two chains around Oliver’s neck choking him. He then began telling Oliver how unfortunate it was that he wouldn’t live to see Darhk fulfill his master plan. Oliver threw a smoke bomb at Darhk before he could finish his speech and used the distraction to escape.

Felicity found John and Curtis and rushed to where John said Hive was holding Ray captive. They couldn’t see Ray inside the cube he was being held in, but Hive had a camera set up to watch him.

“Woah, Felicity is huge!” The shrunken man said.

“You have no idea.” John and Felicity both responded at the same time.

Curtis, meanwhile, was trying to do his job so they could leave. “How do you open this?”

“Yeah, my best guess is it needs an asymmetric cypher. You could open it with five years and an NSA grade computer.” Ray explained.

“I have a better idea.” Felicity said, rolling up both her sleeves. “Ray, take a step back.” Giganta’s strength was proving more and more useful.

She made a fist and punched straight through the top of the cube. The polymer broke apart like it was made out of paper mache. Ray was now able to leave, but was still the size of a tater tot.

“That was….well, the cube’s open.” Curtis remarked. “But he’s still tiny and-“

“They put these mini cams in here and they have to draw power from something, right? I’ve siphoned enough juice off to power up my exosuit.” Ray said. He pressed a button and his suit came online.

“Dr. Palmer's doohickey is ready, if you don’t mind my use of the term ‘doohickey’.” Curtis informed them.

John and Felicity stepped out of the way and he fired the machine at Ray. He immediately returned to his normal size. “I’m not dead.”

Digg told the others that they had Ray and could leave now. John, Felicity, Curtis and Ray were turning to leave when a Ghost approached them with his weapon drawn. John was about to open fire when the man fell to the ground. Oliver stepped around his unconscious body.

  
“We have to move.” Oliver told them. he paused as he walked past Ray. “Good to see you Ray.”

“Nice suit.”

The team reconvened at the lair and Oliver brought Ray up to speed on Darhk, Hive and why they might be interested in Ray’s suit. Felicity also told him that his tests all came back clean except for a slight iron deficiency. After she announced that, Ray voiced a question of his own.

“So, I didn’t want to ask earlier because a crazy magic man wanted to make me his lab rat, but how were you able to break the cube?” he asked Felicity. “The cube was made out of graphene. It should’ve taken over 100,000 Newtons of force to break it. No human being can generate that kind of force.”

“Yeah, something kinda happened to me a few months ago.” she answered nonchalantly. “That’s a story for another day.”


	22. Chapter 22

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Felicity talks to Ray and Donna comes to a conclusion

The day after the team rescued ray from Darhk, Felicity decided to rip the bandaid off about Giganta. Ray had a right to know what was going on if he was going to return to the team and she didn’t want to delay things longer than necessary. Since he was still legally declared dead, she asked him to meet her at the team’s new lair to talk.

Ray looked around the bunker when he noticed he was the only person there besides Felicity. “You didn’t invite me here to kill me, did you?”

“No. I wanted to explain some things. Like my super strength.”

“Yeah, I was wondering about that.”

“Well, it all started when Oliver and I came back to Star City.” She explained. “The board reluctantly kept me on as CEO, I was looking through your old files and stome stuff just didn’t make sense.”

“Didn’t make sense how?”

“The logs from the night of your ‘accident’ didn’t match what the first responders found. There also wasn’t a body, which you’d expect after an explosion. I started looking into it, trying to work out what they missed.” She paused. “I even started messing around with your nanites.”

“Something happened. You had a lab accident didn’t you?”

“I did. I didn’t know it at the time. The next day, I woke up a little bigger than normal. The day after that, I was taller than Oliver and weighed so much that I broke my bed. I kept getting bigger and bigger. And rounder and rounder. I started to resemble a parade balloon. We had to go to Star Labs because no one in Star City could help me.”

“So, they fixed you. I’m assuming that since, you know, you aren’t a giant right now.”

“No, not quite. They couldn’t reverse what happened, they could only teach me to control my growth spurts. Just in the nick of time, too, otherwise-”

“Otherwise what?”

“I can’t- When this first happened, I couldn’t stop growing. I can grow to be the size of this building. In fact, I busted through the roof of Star Labs. If I reach a certain size, I’ll hit critical mass and explode. And since my body is changing because of atom tech and my atoms are being changed-“

“When you explode, it’ll be like someone set off a nuclear bomb.”

“Yeah.”

“I’m so sorry.” Ray told her. “If I hadn’t- if you weren’t trying to figure out what happened to me-“ he cut himself off again. “Wait, this doesn’t explain your strength though.”

“Just because I physically shrink doesn’t mean my powers do too. I weigh the same amount whether I’m 5’5” or 50’5”. At my normal height, I’m just denser. The same goes from my strength. I’ve got the strength of a giant regardless of how tall I am.”

“That’s awesome. I mean, the whole critical mass thing is terrifying, but the strength and stuff is cool.”

“Yeah, well, you don’t have to pay for my groceries.”

“What do you-?”

“In order to not die of starvation, I have to eat 7,000 calories a day minimum. I’m just glad Oliver can cook.”

 After Felicity and Ray were done talking, she went to her office to try and get some work done. It was a surprisingly slow and boring week for the CEO and she intended to make the most out of it. She didn’t even have any meetings pending with the board, which did wonders for her stress level. She was reviewing some project proposals when she heard footsteps approaching her.

“AHHH!” Her mother yelled in excitement as she came into her office. “I’M SO EXCITED FOR YOU!”

This wasn’t good. “Mom, what are you doing here? And excited about what?”

“About the baby, silly.”

“Baby? What baby?”

“The baby you’re having.” Donna said slowly. “It’s okay, I worked it out for myself. Between the secrecy and those mood swings you were having, I thought something was up, but then I noticed you’d gained a little weight around your stomach and-“

“I’m not- there isn’t a baby.” Felicity cut her off. “I’m not pregnant.”

“You’re not pregnant?”

“No, just little fat. Apparently.” She wasn’t sure how she felt about Donna’s assumption. She knew her mother meant well, but that didn’t make it any easier to hear.

“I- I’m gonna go.” Donna said. She wasn’t sure how Felicity felt about what she’d said and knew giving her space was a good idea.

Oliver came about an hour later to have lunch with Felicity. He found her in her office, sniffling. Clearly, she’d been crying.

“What’s wrong? What happened?”

“My mom thought I was pregnant. I was acting weird, more emotional, and I’ve gained weight, so she thought- I had to tell her that no, I’m not pregnant, I’m just fat.”

“You aren’t fat. You have a higher molecular density than you used to.”

“Tell that to my clothes that don’t fit and the furniture I keep breaking.”


	23. Chapter 23

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> HIVE schemes, it doesn't turn out the way they planned.

About a dozen Ghosts stood in HIVE’s hideout in complete silence. Darhk had ordered all of the Ghosts who were on duty when Ray escaped report directly to him. The man was never happy, but this had to be the angriest any of the underlings had ever seen him. They all stood at attention and waited for the man to finally say something.

“So, in addition to allowing Dr. Palmer to escape with the Green Arrow and his merry men, you managed to let Giganta slip through your fingers. Again.” No one spoke. “Answer me!”

“Yes, sir.” The Ghost standing right in front of Darhk said. He raised his hand and began choking the Ghost with his magic. He released him seconds before the man would’ve passed out and he crumpled to the ground on the floor.

“How? How is it that despite clearly not being a trained fighter, despite her being a literal giant, none of you have been able to capture her? Or better yet find her when she’s alone and not expecting it?”

“We don’t know enough about her. She’s big, that’s all we know. we don’t even know how big. Sometimes she’s 7 feet tall, sometimes she’s 50 stories tall. How do we even know it’s the same person?” one of the newer Ghosts spoke up.

Darhk didn’t appreciate that response and broke the man’s neck with his magic. “Anyone else wanna mouth off?” No one moved. “Get out of my sight.”

“He did bring up a salient point.” Ruve said as she stepped into the room.

“What point would that be?”

“Things would be easier if we knew who she was.”

HIVE had been planning this for a long time. It was time for this world to end and a new world to begin. Initially, Darhk aimed to do it using nuclear weapons bought on the black market or stolen from the government. Then, news of Giganta’s existence broke. A mole inside ARGUS revealed that if Giganta grew too large, she would explode with the strength of a nuclear bomb. If he could turn his Ghosts into people like Giganta, he wouldn’t need to steal anything. in order to do that, HIVE needed to know how Giganta was created. Hence, the orders to capture Giganta without killing her.

“How would you suggest I do that? All signs point to them being too incompetent to capture her and my tracking her down would be a waste of time.” Giganta was Plan A, but while she continued to be difficult, Darhk had to keep Plan B on track.

“If only you could make her come to you.”

“We don’t know who she is, and unlike the Green Arrow, we don’t know enough about her to know how to manipulate her into coming to us.”

“That wasn’t what I meant.” Ruve said as she walked over and placed a hand on Darhk’s idol. “I’m sure somewhere in those books of yours there’s some spell that could help you out.”

A smirk grew across his face. “Actually, there is.” He called a handful of Ghosts back and ordered them to obtain specific ingredients.

 

At the loft, Felicity was in the kitchen eating an afternoon snack when Donna came into the apartment. “I was hoping we could talk.”

“There’s nothing we really need to talk about mom.”

“I thought you were pregnant and kinda-.”

“You were excited.”

“Yes, but I thought you were pregnant because you put on some weight, there’s no way that made you feel better about yourself.”

“It didn’t but- there’s a lot going on in my life, the last few weeks have been-“ Felicity just wished she could tell her mother and that Donna would understand.

 

Back at HIVE, Dahrk was preparing for the spell when one of the partners asked him to explain what he was doing again.

“It’s quite simple. The spell will allow Giganta and I to walk a mile in each other’s shoes, as it were. While my body is here under heavy guard, I’ll be in her body, giving me a chance to learn her identity and, barring any interference, will bring her body here so we can either recruit or replicate her.”

“And what if it goes wrong?”

“It won’t.” He said as he started chanting.

 

“There’s a lot I wish I could tell you, but I don’t know how.” Felicity told her mother.

“You can tell me. You can tell me anything.”

“No, I can’t. You- you wouldn’t understand.”

Donna walked closer to Felicity and pulled her into a hug. “Then, help me understand. Please.”

Felicity began to feel dizzy. Her vision began to go dark and she lost consciousness. An unknown amount of time later, she woke up and was staring at the ceiling. A moan came from next to her.

“I’m hungry. How am I this hungry?” A voice said. Her voice.

She looked over and was staring at her own face. “Oh, god. That means-“ she looked down and saw she was wearing the same clothes her mother was. She’d become her mother.

Donna screamed. “Why do you look like me? What happened to Felicity?”

“Mom, its me, it’s Felicity. We kinda- I think we’re having a Freaky Friday experience.” She said. Then, the doorknob turned. “Frack, Oliver. this is gonna be- How am I gonna explain this?”

 

Darhk stopped chanting and opened his eyes. He was still at HIVE and still in his own body. It didn’t work. He had all the spell ingredients, the right incantation, what went wrong?

“I take it from your glare, that this magic trick didn’t work.” The partner said in a snide tone.

 


	24. Chapter 24

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Donna learns one of Felicity's many secrets.

Donna screamed. “Why do you look like me? What happened to Felicity?”

“Mom, its me, it’s Felicity. We kinda- I think we’re having a Freaky Friday experience.” She said. Then, the doorknob turned. “Frack, Oliver. this is gonna be- How am I gonna explain this?”

The door opened and Oliver stepped inside. He approached the woman he thought was Felicity and was about to give her a peck on the lips when Felicity, in Donna’s body, spoke up.

“Stop! I- she- I’m already gonna need therapy after this. Please don’t make it worse.”

Oliver was perplexed. Felicity’s mother never had an issue with seeing Oliver kiss Felicity before. In fact, Felicity was the one who preferred not to show off in front of her mother. “Donna, I don’t-“

“I’m not Donna, I’m Felicity.”

Oliver gave her a look before turning to the woman he thought was his girlfriend. “Your jokes are usually better.”

“It’s not a joke!” Felicity said. “What? Do you want me to prove it?”

“Sure.” He said, humoring her. He didn’t know why they were playing this kind of prank but elected to go with it. “Where did we go on our first date?”

He turned to ‘Felicity’ who shrugged while ‘Donna’ answered. “Corrado’s. it was going well until the restaurant blew up.”

“The restaurant blew up?”

“Ok, that was too easy. You could’ve told her that.” he said, trying to think of a harder question.

Felicity wanted to skip past the trivia round and started listing things only she would know. “The day I met you, you walked into my cubicle and asked for help with a computer issue. I was chewing on a red pen. You have a burn on your left shoulder in the shape of an arrow. On your right shoulder, until this past summer, you had a tattoo of a dragon. The first time you told me you loved me? May 2014. Second time? December 2014. The first time we had sex, we were in Na-.”

“Okay. You proved your point.” he said, cutting her off. There was no way that wasn’t Felicity. “You’re Felicity?”

“Yes.”

He turned back to the woman with Felicity’s face. “And that means you’re Donna.”

“Yup.”

He was glad Felicity said something. Kissing his girlfriend’s mother would’ve been pretty bad. “Ok….how did this happen?”

“I don’t know. I was trying to comfort her. she was talking about how there were things in her life I just couldn’t understand. Next thing I know, I’m waking up on the floor, super hungry and staring at my own face.” Donna explained.

“It was almost like magic.” Felicity said, emphasizing the last word.

“You think it might be-?”

“I don’t know. It’s the only explanation I have.”

“What are you two talking about?” Donna asked. “And why am I so hungry?!”

“It’s- well- my life’s way more complicated than you realize.” Felicity blurted out. She walked over to one of the cabinets and pulled out a box of Poptarts. “You’re gonna wanna eat these.”

“Why?”

“You know that woman on the news, Giganta?”

“Yeah. What about her?”

“Well, I’m her. Which means right now, you’re her because you’re in my body. And in order to not die of starvation, you have to eat about 7,000 calories a day.”

“That’s why you gained weight.” She said with realization. “How did this happen?”

“There’s a lot of molecular physics involved, but basically a lab accident.” Oliver stepped in. “As long as you stay well fed and don’t get too upset, we’ll be fine.”

“What happens if I get upset?”

“You’ll grow. Upwards and outwards and it feels really weird and I’d rather not add that to our existing list of problems.” Felicity said. “Wanna give your friend Constantine a call?”

Oliver left the room to call him.

 

At HIVE’s headquarters, the other board members were waiting for an explanation from Damien Darhk. “You know what I love about this turn of events?” One of them asked smugly. He never believed in magic and didn’t see it as being very helpful in their quest. “I get to say I told you so.”

Darhk raised an arm and began choking the man with his powers. “Do you? I don’t think you can say much of anything right now?”

“Mr. Darhk.” One of the others said politely. “If we could proceed.”

“Fine by me.” Darhk released the man.

“What exactly went wrong?”

“And what should the ritual have done?”

“It was meant for Giganta and I to switch bodies. To see things from the others perspective, literally. Quite simple.”

“Yet, the ritual was a failure.”

“Indeed. It would appear that, given her unique physiology, she’s immune to magic.” Either Giganta wasn’t human enough for the spell to work, or there had been some kind of interference on her end when Darhk was performing it.

“Could the effect be latent?”

“No. If it worked, I would be in her body and we’d be sitting around waiting for it to wear off.” Darhk wanted to know who she was, he didn’t want to be her forever. So, he chose a spell that would wear off after about 12 hours.

 

Oliver wasn’t able to reach Constantine, but managed to leave a message. As it got closer to dark, Oliver was torn about what to do. He didn’t want Donna to know his secret. At the same time, the team needed Felicity, and possibly Giganta, and it didn’t seem like a good idea to leave Donna alone in Felicity’s body.


	25. Chapter 25

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Donna learns some new information and an old foe resurfaces.

Oliver wasn’t able to reach Constantine, but managed to leave a message. As it got closer to dark, Oliver was torn about what to do. He didn’t want Donna to know his secret. At the same time, the team needed Felicity, and possibly Giganta, and it didn’t seem like a good idea to leave Donna alone in Felicity’s body.

In the end, the decision was made for him. Digg called ‘Felicity’ wondering where they were. Oliver tried to get the phone away from her before she could respond, but it was too late.

“I know you’re busy with your mom in town, but HIVE’s gonna notice if the Green Arrow and Giganta go MIA.”

“We’ll be there soon.” Oliver said, hanging up the phone before turning to Donna.

“You- you’re the Green Arrow.”

“Yes.”

“You- does she know?”

“Yeah, I know. I’ve known for a while.” Felicity admitted. “You can yell at me all I want later. We need to go.”

“Why? Why do we need to go?” Donna understood Felicity needing to go, and Oliver, but why her?

“Because there’s a group of very evil people trying to destroy the city. They keep trying to kidnap Giganta, and since its my body, you’re coming with us. You have no idea how to use my powers or control them, which makes you a danger to everyone. You aren’t leaving my sight until we find a way to fix things.”

“Felicity-.” Oliver cut in.

“No. If she has an incident HIVE’s gonna show up. She doesn’t have any training, so its not likely she’ll be able to fight them off, and I don’t want them using my body to hurt people. Not to mention what they might do to her in the process.” She argued. “Let’s go.”

They drove to the lair in silence. It was clear Felicity was very concerned with HIVE targeting her when she was vulnerable. Donna didn’t know Felicity took being Giganta or working with the Green Arrow so seriously. Yes, he was her boyfriend, but her need to contribute went beyond that. They went into the lair and everyone froze upon seeing ‘Donna’.

“Uh, Oliver? Felicity?” Thea started to say.

“She’s not Felicity. I’m Felicity.” Felicity said. “We switched bodies somehow and it didn’t seem like a good idea to just leave her in the loft.”

“How will-?”

“We don’t know. Constantine isn’t answering and we’re hoping Giganta isn’t needed right now.”

“You probably shouldn’t have said that out loud.” Laurel remarked. “Goo-Girl’s back.”

“Wait, who’s-“ Donna started to asked.

“How is she back? How do you know?”

Digg gestured to one of Felicity’s computers. There was a video open on the screen. Goo-Girl was standing in front of the door of a restaurant. The camera panned back to show dozens of people trapped in the restaurant by her.

“This message is for Giganta. I told you there can only be one of us. And after you washed me down the drain, it can’t be you. Let’s settle this like adults.”

Felicity spun to look at her mother. “You need to get out there.”

“What?”

“You need to get out there and stop her.” She repeated. “This woman, she’s bad. Really bad. We need to do something.”

“And they can’t?” Donna asked, gesturing to the rest of the team.

“No, they- because of the way she is, they wouldn’t last very long.” She explained. “Look, I’ll talk you through what to do, just follow my lead.”

“If you’re sure about this.”

“I am.” Felicity answered with about 80% confidence. “You’ll need these.” She handed Donna her goggles for when she went out as Giganta.

It didn’t take long for Felicity to figure out where the video was coming from and send her mother there. Oliver went with her, just in case. While they were en route, Felicity sent a message to Barry, telling him Goo-Girl had returned. She’d finished explaining to him when Donna told her they were there.

“Ok, I need you to get emotional. It’s the easiest way to grow.”

“Emotional how?”

“Anger works pretty well, in my experience.” Felicity answered. “Think of Dad if it helps. My lying to you, anything. It needs to be a very strong emotion, okay?”

There was silence on the other end of the line. “I think- I think I did it.”

“Green Arrow?”

“She’s not massive, but she did grow. Try it again.” there was another beat of silence. “Ok, that’s good.”

“What do I do now?”

“Go into the restaurant, hit Goo-Girl as hard as you can.”

“That’s your plan?!”

“For right now, yes. Star Labs is working on something.”

Donna walked into the building, and stood staring at Goo-Girl. She was about to bite some man’s head off, literally, when she came in.

“Oh, Giganta. Come to die, I see.”

“I didn’t come here to chat. Let’s get this over with.” Donna said.

“Ok, Mom. Keep your limbs away from her- well, just don’t let your arm get stuck in her goo, okay? As long as you do that, you’ll be fine.” Felicity told her. “And she tries to bite, so-“

“Don’t get too close, got it.”

Donna did pretty well evading her opponent, all things considered. About five minutes in, Cisco called Felicity. “I have something for you. It’ll stop Goo-Girl.  Barry’s on his way.”

“Stop her how?”

Cisco didn’t answer. She watched on the security cameras as Barry sped to the restaurant and handed something to Donna. He told her to throw one of the capsules at Goo-Girl and the chemicals would do the rest. Having no reason to argue, Donna did what she was told.

The capsule hit Goo-Girl’s skin and the effect became apparent immediately. Her bright pink skin started to become more muted. The effect spread outwards across her skin until it covered her whole body.

“What the hell was that?”

“A cryo-capsule. She’s alive but the slime-like substance that makes up her body can’t expand and we can now transport her safely without security concerns.” Barry explained. “I don’t suppose you wanna help move her?”

“I-.” Donna started to say before her eyes rolled back in her head. In the foundry, Felicity was doing the same thing. Seconds later, Donna woke up in the foundry and Felicity opened her eyes to see Barry and Oliver staring at her.

“Oh, thank god, I’m me again.”

“Prove it.”

“Remember our first night in Bali when you did that thing with-?”

“Okay, that’s her.” He cut her off.

“Wait, what just-?” Barry was confused.

Felicity bent down to lift Goo-Girl. “I’ll explain on the way.”


	26. Chapter 26

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With Goo-Girl defeated, Felicity and Oliver have some explaining to do.

Felicity lifted Goo-Girl up and turned to Barry. “Can you- I don’t think you wanna try and run to Central City with her, and I sure as hell don’t wanna drag her for 600 miles. So, can you ask Cisco to, you know?” She opened and closed one hand several times, signaling a breach opening and closing.

“Hey Cisco, we could use a breach right about now.” Barry said into his comm. Moments later, a breach opened next to him. “What did you mean when you said you were yourself again?”

“It’s been a weird day.” She answered, stepping through it. “My mom and I swapped bodies, which means I’m definitely gonna need therapy.”

“That’s- why do those things only seem to happen to you?”

“I know right? If it should happen to anyone, it should be you, simply because of how fracking weird Central City is, but no. I’m the one that keeps getting enlarged or body-swapped. I don’t even wanna know what the next thing’s gonna be.”

They got Goo-Girl settled in the pipeline. While the cryocapsule was working its way through her system, some of her volume had gone down. Felicity supposed it was because the gelatinous goo that made up her body contracted when frozen, causing her to shrink significantly. Instead of looking like a giant pile of pink goo, Miranda was now the size of a very heavily obese woman, and thus, more human.

With her secure in the pipeline, Felicity thanked Cisco and Barry for their help before the former opened a breach and she returned to Star City. The portal closed and Felicity found herself in the lair. Her mother was glaring at her with her arms crossed.

“Explain. Now.”

“Where do you want me to start?”

“How long have you been like this? Been Giganta?”

“A few months. When she- I was all over the news the first time, it was about three days after I got my….abilities.”

“How did you get them?”

“Lab accident. I was messing around with some nanites and- that’s all I can really explain for sure.” She admitted.

“Why did we swap bodies and how did we switch back?”

“I don’t-.”

“Magic probably.” Oliver interjected. “it’s- I know this is hard to swallow, but magic is real. And it might be possible to use it to make two people switch bodies.”

“Ok, but why us? What’s the upside to putting me in her body and vice versa?” Donna asked.

“It’s possible we weren’t supposed to switch. Something happened and it went wrong.” Felicity said. “Maybe I was supposed to wind up in some random body while someone else took over mine. I don’t know, it didn’t work.”

“And him? This? How long has that been going on?” Donna asked, pointing to Oliver and then gesturing to the lair as a whole.

“About three years. I started working with him before that earthquake.”

 “Three years. You’ve been working with him for three years. When were you gonna tell me? Were you gonna tell me?”

“Not unless I had to. it wasn’t something I wanted you to know about and how was I supposed to? Was I supposed to just call you up and say ‘Mom, you know the Arrow, well I’m one of his partners?’ that wouldn’t have gone over well and you know it.” she responded. “And on top of that, knowing would’ve put you in danger, which I didn’t want.”

Unable to react to that, Donna spun to face Oliver. “And you? What’s the point of this? Why are you doing this? What’s the endgame here?”

“When my father died, he told me to save this city. That’s what I’ve been trying to do. The earthquake, the army of supersoldiers, the outbreak, I do what I do because I’m trying to save this city. That’s what I, what we’re, doing.”

“That’s why I had to come with you, wasn’t it? Why she said you couldn’t leave me alone in the loft. There’s another threat to the city. Felicity said there was a group of very bad people wanting to destroy the city and they wanted to use her, me, Giganta to do it.”

“That’s…..a very watered down version of things.” Felicity said. “They’re killing city leadership. They tried to blow up the train station. We keep stopping them from either buying extremely deadly weapons or using them to destroy the city. And they keep trying to kidnap me. We don’t know why and I don’t wanna know why.”

It was quiet for several moments before Donna spoke again. “You lied to me.”

“By omission.”

“No, it was more than just by omission. You lied to me about pretty much your whole life. Every time I’d call to see how you were, you lied. Every time I tried to visit and you said you didn’t have time because of work, you lied. Was anything you told me in the last three years true?”

“Yes, it was. It just- I didn’t give you the full context.”

“And how can I know that’s not a lie too?” Donna asked. “I’m gonna- I think its time for me to go home now. This trip was, well, enlightening in the very least.” She turned and walked out of the building.

After the door closed, Felicity broke down. “She hates me.”

“She’s surprised. And hurt.” Oliver comforted her.  “She’ll come around.”

 


	27. Chapter 27

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ray tries to fix what happened to Felicity, but how successful will he be?

The day after Felicity had finally come clean to her mother, she was in her office working when Ray suddenly burst through the door. Thanks to some foresight on Felicity’s part, Ray was already legally back from the dead. Thanks to those forms Ray tricked her into signing, him transferring ownership of Palmer Tech was permanent and nothing she or the Board could do would change that. On one hand, Felicity was happy to know that Ray’s choice wasn’t just in case something happened to him. On the other, the board still disliked her and she wasn’t exactly fans of theirs either.

Instead of returning to the role of CEO, Ray had taken a position as the head of Applied Science, which allowed him to do what he actually loved instead of being stuck in meetings all the time.

Ray burst into her office and spoke. “I need you to come downstairs.”

“Ok. Why? Please don’t tell me you blew something up again.”

“No. Nothing blew up and nothing’s on fire. I just wanna run some tests.”

“Run some tests on what?”

“On you. I wanna- you’re different now. Because of me. And if you’ll let me, I’d like to get you back to normal, or at least try.”

“I get that but- Barry, Cisco, Caitlin, they all ran tests and they all tried to find a way to fix me. None of it worked.”

“Well, no offense to them, but they aren’t me. Caitlin’s a biochemist. You’re a computer scientist. Barry’s specialty is forensics. Cisco’s an engineer. You’re all very smart, but none of you are physicists. And after what happened with the suit, no one knows nanotech or molecular physics like I do.”

“I get that you wanna help. I understand that, I do, but I’m not sure about the risks.”

“The risks?”

“There’s a risk whatever test you run might make it harder or impossible for me to control my size. It might cause some kind of reaction that neither of us expects. What if, in doing this, it just makes things worse?”

“It won’t.” He said earnestly. “I wanna help. Please, just give me a chance.”

“Ok. Fine.” She relented before following Ray down to his lab.

He started by taking some blood to analyze. Looking at it under a microscope, he saw some differences compared to normal human blood, but not as many as he was expecting. Nothing about her blood seemed to indicate anything was different about her, aside from some possible vitamin deficiencies. Given her dietary requirements, that wasn’t surprising.

Ray then asked her to step into a sterile room connected to his lab where he wanted to get some readings and possibly run an experiment.

“Get some readings of what?” Felicity asked as she stepped into the room.

“Radioactivity, energy levels, atomic activity, dark or strange matter present in your cells.” He answered, pressing buttons on a console. “You need to be in a cleanroom so the sensor doesn’t pick up on anything given off by outside materials or objects.” He looked at the screen where the results were being shown. “Wow.”

“Wow. Wow what? Good wow? Bad wow?”

“Your cells are incredibly compressed at this size. It’s a miracle they haven’t popped for lack of a better term from the pressure.” He remarked. “Your atoms are likely experiencing the same thing. Are you in any pain right now?” She shook her head. “Incredible. I’m sure if you were grow to about ten times your current size, we could learn a centuries worth of information about subatomic particles.”

“We aren’t here to make a physics breakthrough Ray.”

“Right. I wanna try something.” He said, pressing a few more buttons. “You haven’t eaten in the last hour have you?”

“Yeah, I have.”

“Oh. Well, let’s hope that won’t be a problem.”

“Won’t be a problem with what?”

Ray didn’t answer and pressed a few more buttons. “Three….two….one.” He pushed a lever up and Felicity looked around, waiting for something to happened. After about a minute, he pushed the lever back down and spoke. “Do you feel any different?”

“No! What was that? What were you trying to do?”

“I was trying to reverse the effect the ATOM tech had on your cells by releasing nanites into the room that had an opposing charge to the ones that turned you into Giganta.” He said. “Are you sure it didn’t do anything?”

Felicity glared at Ray and he watched as she grew to the height of the ceiling. “I’m sure.”

“Ok, not a problem. We’ll go back to the drawing board.”

“I don’t care if you do or not, but next time, if you’re gonna run a test or try to experiment on me, tell me! Don’t just put me in a cleanroom, say ‘hold on’ and start bombarding me with nanites!”

“Fair enough.”

 


	28. Chapter 28

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> John gets a surprise and Felicity runs into someone she's been avoiding.

After Ray’s failed experiment, Felicity went upstairs and went back to work. She couldn’t believe he’d been so callous about the experiment. She knew he felt bad for what happened and that he just wanted to help but there were so many other, better ways he could’ve gone about it. She spent the rest of the day holed up in her office trying not to lose her cool or let the stress she was under cause her to grow.

Eventually, it got late and Felicity headed home. Oliver was in the loft waiting for her. He’d had a few meetings related to his mayoral campaign that he wanted to tell her about, and he hoped she’d like some of his ideas.

Oliver was pulling dinner out of the oven when Felicity got into the loft. “Hey, how was work?”

“It was fine. Ray did an experiment today.”

“What did he set on fire?” He asked.

“Nothing. He just- he was trying to ‘fix’ me. He blames himself for me being like this, me being Giganta and its kinda-”

“You don’t like the way he phrased it. He wants to ‘fix’ you which implies there’s something wrong, but you don’t see it that way.”

“Don’t get me wrong. I don’t like having to eat 7,000 calories a day. I don’t like that I burst out of my clothes sometimes or the sheer number of pieces of furniture I break. There’s always the fear that I’ll reach critical mass and explode. That all sucks, but I’ve been able to do some real good as Giganta. I helped those people during the fire. I stopped Goo-Girl. I stopped the Trickster with his exploding soda. Being Giganta means I’m different, but its not all bad.”

“Well, did you tell him that?” He wondered.

“No, I didn’t get a chance to. One minute he was drawing my blood and looking at the sample. The next I was in a cleanroom and he was bombarding me with nanites to reverse the accident.” She said. “He didn’t even tell me what he was doing until after the fact.”

“He didn’t tell you? For a smart guy, that’s kinda dumb.”

Felicity was about to respond when her phone went off. She checked it and stood up. “HIVE’s moving on an armored truck heading to Starling National. We need to go.”

“I thought they stopped robbing banks.”

“Yeah, well, cities are hard to keep running when no one has any money.” she said. “And think of all the horrible things HIVE could buy with that much money.”

“Good point.”

The team wasn’t able to stop HIVE before they destroyed the money, leaving them back at square one. The next night, Felicity picked up chatter about HIVE breaking into a lab and sent the team to intercept them. Thankfully, Dahrk wasn’t with the group attacking the lab, so there wasn’t the added magical danger.

Felicity was watching the operation on a security camera and saw Digg take the mask off of a HIVE agent who tried to shoot Laurel. When the man was unmasked, John froze. The HIVE agent blitz him and was able to get away. With HIVE’s plan thwarted, the team rushed back to the lair.

“John, what happened?” Felicity asked.

“Andy.”

“What about him?”

“The Ghost who shot at Laurel. it was Andy.”

“I thought HIVE killed Andy.”

“No, they just recruited him.” He responded. “It doesn’t matter. He’s working for HIVE, he’s working for Darhk. He might as well be dead.” He walked off and no one went after him.

“The vial you told me to grab, what is it?” Laurel asked Felicity.

“There’s a finite list of chemicals capable of making someone’s DNA deteriorate the way the Ghosts’ do. That’s one of only two compounds that can do that and not counteract the cyanide they seem to have on them at all times.”

“Counteract?”

“No point of a suicide pill if it won’t actually kill you.” Oliver explained.

Felicity took the vial from Laurel and started running tests on the compound. It did contain the chemicals needed to deteriorate DNA, but there were other chemicals in the compound that worried her. She wasn’t quite sure what the combination of chemicals would do, but it couldn’t be good. While Felicity looked further into the chemical compounds, the team went back out since Felicity found a lead on where HIVE seemed to be.

John and Oliver went to the location where Felicity had tracked Andy to. They hid on top of a shipping container as Darhk greeted his new recruits. They heard him explain the yellow pills he gave all of his Ghosts and how they worked.

“I think we know what that yellow chemical does now.” Oliver remarked right before they were noticed and the Ghosts, including Andy, opened fire.

Oliver’s side was grazed by one of the bullets, which led to him and John arguing about his wanting to save Andy from HIVE. John didn’t see the point, since even if Andy was mind-controlled, he’d still let his family think he was dead for eight years, including his son. Oliver thought he was giving up hope too easily.

The next night, Felicity was able to find a probable location for the Ghosts’ base. Oliver told Thea and Laurel about it, but not John. He didn’t want to take all of the Ghosts down, he just wanted to get Andy out. They were on the same page, but John didn’t agree.

“That’s fine. You stay here, I’ll go with them.” Felicity told him.

“HIVE’s after you.  More than the rest of us. Do you really wanna walk right into their base?” Joh asked her.

“Do I want to? No. but Andy’s under Darhk’s influence and we need to get him out. And who knows what he might know about Darhk’s plans.”

“So, this isn’t just about Andy.”

“It is, but helping Andy might just help us.”

The plan was to sneak in, find Andy and extract him. Unfortunately, Thea and Laurel quickly got made and were forced to fight. Oliver made his presence known soon after. Thea found Andy and knocked him out, reporting that she needed help. Felicity was running to her location when she turned a corner.

Damian Darhk was standing in the middle of the hallway.


	29. Chapter 29

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Felicity runs into someone she's been trying to avoid.

Felicity was running to Thea’s location when she turned a corner.

Damian Darhk was standing in the middle of the hallway. He turned his head to look at her. “Funny how you run into people at the most random times. I’ve been meaning to talk to you.”

“That’s nice.” She said, sounding annoyed.

“Oh, don’t tell me you’re upset that my Ghosts tried to kidnap you. They kidnap everyone I wanna talk to.” He said with a carefree tone. “But I’m glad they failed, because it helped me weed out the weak. And this way, you aren’t already pissed at being abducted before we have a chance to chat.”

“I’m not interested in anything you have to say.”

“You sure about that? You aren’t even the least bit curious? Because if you weren’t, why didn’t you turn heel and run as soon as you saw me?” He asked moving closer to her.

“I don’t run from my problems.” She said, crossing her arms.

“Now, I know you’ve got a partnership or whatever going with the Green Arrow, but are you sure that’s where you’re meant to be? I mean, don’t get me wrong, his archery skills aren’t bad, but do you really think this city, this world, is ever gonna really accept you the same way they accept him? You can grow to the size of a skyscraper. They’re always gonna be a little bit scared of you.”

“And you’re saying you aren’t. That by joining you, I’ll be accepted.”

“Exactly.”

“Really? You’re offering me membership to your axis of evil because I don’t fit in anywhere else. It has nothing to do with you wanting my abilities to wreak havoc on Star City.” She deadpanned. “Or are you hoping that if I join your little team of misfit toys that you’ll be able to replicate them for someone else.”

“Friendship’s a game of give and take. I can’t be the only person giving in this.”

“I think I’m gonna pass.” Felicity said as she moved to push past him.

“Fine, if you wanna be like that, I can go with Plan B.” He raised an arm and she tensed.

She recognized the movement as something he did whenever he used his powers against someone. Based on what she’s seen from his victims, she expected to feel a bunch of pain or start to get incredibly weak. She started to feel something, but it wasn’t very strong. Anger overtook her and she felt herself grow. Dahrk’s eyes widened slightly as he watched her expand. When she reached about seven feet tall, she reached an arm out and swatted Dahrk out of her way. He hit the wall in a heap and for a second, she wondered if he was alive but then he began groaning.

She shrunk back down to her normal height, or close enough, and continued down the hallway. When she turned another corner, she heard everyone was freaking out over the comms.

“Giganta? Who has eyes on Giganta?” Oliver yelled.

“I’m here, I’m fine.” She answered.

“Where were you? Why weren’t you responding?”

It suddenly occurred to Felicity that she hadn’t heard anything over her comm unit the entire time she was in that hallway with Darhk. She wasn’t sure if the area was just a dead zone or if he’d been magically jamming the signal to prevent her from warning anyone that he was there.

“There was a bug I was trying to squash.” She answered before laughing at her pun. Darhk ran HIVE, news outlets had called the Ghosts drones in the beginning, so the bug analogy worked. “Did we get Andy out?”

“Yeah, we did.” Laurel answered. “Let’s get out of here.”

The team returned to the bunker and put Andy in the cell they had set up there. They weren’t sure how loyal Andy truly was to HIVE or what he might do, so they decided to be better safe than sorry. John saw his brother and was conflicted. Andy’s death had been a huge event in his life, only it turned out to be a ruse, which made things much more complicated.

“So, what do we do now?” Thea asked once Andy was contained.

“We wait for whatever drugs are in his system to wear off and then we talk to him.” Oliver answered.

“Well, I don’t know about you guys, but I’m gonna opt out of that talk.” Felicity said. “Seems like a bad idea.”

“Weren’t you the one saying we needed Andy to learn HIVE’s plan?”

“We do, but I don’t. You don’t need me to question him and he can’t find out my identity.” She explained.

“But he can learn ours?” Laurel asked.

“No offense, but none of you are walking nuclear bombs.” She explained. “And Darhk doesn’t seem to have an obsession with kidnapping or recruiting any of you.”

“What happened when your comm went dead?” Oliver asked her.

“Darhk was there. He tried to talk me into joining him by pointing out that people would always be afraid of me. I declined. He tried to use his magic on me. Well, he used it but it didn’t really seem to work. I knocked him out of my way and moved on.”

“Did he say what he wanted you for?”

“No, but something tells me it isn’t gonna be good.”

 

At HIVE’s base, Darhk was recovering from his meeting with Giganta when the other board members arrived. They’d been informed the Green Arrow and his team had found the base and attacked, but hadn’t heard any more details regarding it.

“What were they after?”

“No idea. Robin Hood destroyed a few crates and one of the Ghosts is missing.” Darhk answered.

“Which one?”

“Andrew Diggle.”

“And you, what, couldn’t stop them?”

“I got sidetracked. Giganta was here as well, I couldn’t waste the chance to talk to her, convince her to join us.” He explained. “She’s uninterested.”

“So it was another waste of time.”

“I wouldn’t say that.” He turned to one of HIVE’s scientists. “Did you get a reading?”

“Yes, sir. It’s as you predicted. When she grew, the Geiger counter went crazy. Giganta’s powers are caused by nuclear fission.” The man answered.

“And you thought I was just wasting time trying to capture her.” Darhk said arrogantly to the other board members.


	30. Chapter 30

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Barry comes to Star City because he needs help from a friend.

About a week after they freed Andy from HIVE’s clutches, they hadn’t gotten very far at getting through to him or finding out what Darhk’s plan was. He didn’t seem to care about anything John had said to him trying to get him to talk. The team decided to pull back from trying to talk some sense into Andy for a little bit in favor of continuing to stop HIVE from further destroying the city.

Oliver, Thea and John learned that HIVE was intending to steal a weapon from ARGUS and went out to stop them. They arrived too late to save the agents tasked with protecting the weapon, but not before Darhk could actually steal it. They were fighting off the Ghosts when Oliver turned around and found himself face-to-face with Darhk, who had his hand on his chest.

“You know, I gotta be honest. I really thought we’d be doing this dance a lot longer. Night-night.” Darhk said as he drained Oliver’s life force. Oliver was being to fade when suddenly a red blur sped towards the pair and rushed Oliver away. “What was that?!” The megalomaniac asked with excitement.

Barry stopped and let go of Oliver a few blocks away. “Thank you, but I don’t think you ran all the way here to protect us.”

“No, not to protect you.” He admitted. “I need to protect a friend.”

“How about we help after Barry gets the chemical weapon far away from the terrorists?” Felicity yelled over the comms. She’d decided to sit this particular fight out and watch from the bunker.

Thea repeated Felicity’s request and Barry sped off to keep the bomb out of Darhk’s hands. He came back and, one by one, rushed the team back to the bunker. When they got there, Cisco was already in the bunker with Felicity and a woman they didn’t know, who introduced herself as Kendra.

She explained that a man had tried to kill her and Cisco. When Cisco turned to Barry, he saw how dangerous the man was and brought them both to Star City, hoping Oliver and his team would help. The man who attacked them claimed he’d known Kendra for centuries. Oliver pressed her for more information, which led to a confrontation between Oliver, Cisco and Barry.

“Barry, only one person in this city has superpowers and I don’t think they’re going to be much help. You brought Kendra here without knowing who she is or why this man is after her. You made all of us unsafe. So maybe you ask the questions.”

To deescalate the situation, Felicity suggested they all head to the loft for drinks. It was going well, until the man after Kendra broke through the window and attacked. Oliver and Thea started to fight him off, and a well-timed hit from Felicity sent him flying backwards. He fell over the railing, but when Barry and Oliver looked over the edge of the balcony, his body was gone. They returned to the bunker, where Oliver called Lance and Cisco told Kendra about what he’d seen when they first met.

He had just finished explaining his vision when the lights cut out. They turned back on and Malcolm Merlyn was standing there with four assassins. “The man you’re looking for is Vandal Savage.”

“Vandal Savage? Never heard of him.”

“Vandal Savage, who is that?” Barry asked.

Malcolm explained that legends placed him influencing different people throughout history and that the only thing the League knew for sure was that he had been alive for centuries. He claimed Savage was an immortal and that there was nothing they could do to save Kendra. Immortality was one thing too many for Kendra, so she stormed out, only to be abducted by a flying man. They were able to find her and capture the man who’d taken her. In the lair, the man came to and demanded to be let go, claiming he was Kendra’s soulmate and the only person capable of keeping her safe.

“What we need to do is find Savage, and get rid of him.” Barry remarked.

Carter chuckled. “You can’t get rid of him.”

“Pretty sure I can hit him hard enough to launch him into outer space.” Felicity suggested.

“I really doubt that.” He said.

Felicity made a fist and punched straight through the locker she was standing next to. “Do you wanna test that theory?”

Malcolm appeared again, and informed them that Savage was looking for something called the Staff of Horus. Carter told Kendra she needed to access her abilities now, so they along with Barry, Oliver and Cisco left to go do that. Felicity stayed int the lair with Thea to search for where the staff could be. Unnervingly, Malcolm didn’t leave once he’d delivered his message.

“Why are you still here?” Thea asked him.

“That punch Ms. Smoak threw was impressive.”

“Thanks.” Felicity said in a flat tone.

“Almost inhuman, or rather, metahuman.”

“I’m not a metahuman, but nice try. If you’re gonna fish for answers, maybe don’t be so obvious.”

The first attempt to make Kendra’s wings come out didn’t end very well, with Barry having to run down the side of the building to save her. Oliver pulled him aside to tell him that Kendra might need to save herself, as much as Barry wanted to keep her completely away from the fighting. Their conversation gave Oliver an idea, thinking Kendra might’ve been drawn to Central City because of the Staff of Horus. Oliver and Barry went there to stop him while the others stayed behind to help Kendra with her powers.

Later that night, Oliver called Felicity to tell her that Savage had the Staff. It was decided that they’d regroup in Central City to fight him. Kendra, Carter, Thea, and John took Felicity’s jet to Central City. Cisco opened a breach into Star Labs for both him and Felicity to go through. It was better than driving 10 hours to get there.


	31. Chapter 31

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The team faces off against Vandal Savage and Malcolm is Malcolm.

In Central City, the team met back up at Star Labs before moving to a more remote location at a farmhouse outside of the city. They hadn’t figured out how to stop Savage now that he had the Staff of Horus and while Kendra now had ‘awakened’ as Carter called it, she hadn’t been trained enough to stand much of a chance in a fight against Savage.

Carter tasked himself with training Kendra while Cisco, Caitlin and Felicity got to work on building some kind of gauntlets to allow them to steal the staff from Savage. Oliver and Barry tried to figure out where Savage would head next, and Oliver used the time away from the team to ask Barry for a favor. He’d seen a little boy and his mother in the Central City Jitters, and Oliver was pretty sure he was the boy’s father. Barry ran the test and told Oliver the results.

“-you’re his father.”

“What?” A voice said from behind them. Both men spun around to see Felicity standing there. “I’m sorry, did you just say that he’s someone’s father?”

“Felicity-“

The blonde shook her head. “You know what? There’s a crazy, immortal magic man, well another crazy immortal magic man, I wonder if he and Darhk are friends? They probably are. Anyway, there’s a psycho trying to kill people and threatening to destroy the whole city. I think we can press pause on this conversation.”

“No, I-.”

“Malcolm’s here. He says he has a proposal from Savage, which doesn’t sound good, but I hate Malcolm, so I’m a little biased. Anyway, we should probably hear it. Save the city, then we’ll talk.” She turned and headed back into the house.

“Wait, just- are you angry?” Oliver asked her.

“That depends, were you gonna tell me?” She asked him. “I mean, I know you just found out and probably needed to process the news, but after you’d come to terms with it.”

“Of course I was.”’ He told her. As soon as he spoke to Samantha, the very next person he was going to talk to about his son was Felicity.

They walked into the house where Malcolm was waiting. He informed them that Vandal Savage wanted to meet with Barry and Oliver to discuss a possible truce. The proposal didn’t sit well with either hero, but Oliver figured by meeting him, they might be able to work out what his plan was.

Oliver and Barry went with Malcolm to meet Savage. It turned out that the man didn’t really understands what the word ‘truce’ meant. Savage’s idea of a truce was ‘give me Kendra and Carter so I can kill them, or I’ll kill everyone’. He gave them twelve hours to comply, and Oliver and Barry politely declined the offer.

They regrouped back at the farmhouse and told the others what was happening. They came up with a plan to deliver Kendra and Carter as a ruse to get them close enough to Savage to destroy the Staff of Horus and for Kendra to kill him.

“I hate to be a Negative Nancy over here, but what’s your back-up plan?” Felicity cut in. “I’m not saying Kendra can’t do it, but she awakened less than 24 hours ago. Savage has been getting stronger for thousands of years. And this plan hinges on the belief that the gauntlets we built are gonna work, which we don’t know is definitely going to happen. And then it will be the four of you against an immortal sociopath with a weapon of massive destruction.”

“What are you suggesting?” Barry asked.

“You guys don’t go alone. Eight against one has much better odds that four against one.”

“Wait, eight?”

“You four, John, Thea, Laurel and I. All else fails, I’ll grow to 50 stories and squash him like a bug. I don’t think he’s survived that before.” She said. “You don’t just have a Plan A. You make a Plan B, and a Plan C. You know how the alphabet works. This way, the fate of the city isn’t on one person’s shoulders.”

“Why are you so sure it’s not gonna work?” Carter asked.

“Just a weird feeling. It can’t really explain it.” She shrugged.

Cisco, worried about Felicity’s conviction that the gauntlets wouldn’t work, ran one more test and realized they were missing a critical component. Something in the staff created an energy field that protected it and they needed something of the same material to neutralize the field. Kendra looked at images of the staff and recalled something from her first life. The night they died, there was a meteor shower in Egypt. The Egyptians used pieces of the meteor to build the staff. They were able to find another piece of the same meteor and use it to fix the issue with the gloves.

Oliver and Barry left with Kendra and Carter to seemingly hand them over to Savage. The rest of Team Arrow followed after them and kept their distance in case Savage was watching them and suspected a trap.

As planned, Savage fell for the ruse and was about to kill Kendra when she broke free of her restraints and began fighting him. She wasn’t able to get the Staff of Horus away from him, so John drove the van into the warehouse, creating a distraction and giving her time to recover and collect herself. Even though he was outnumbered, Savage held the assembled heroes off for quite some time. He tried to hit Felicity with a bolt of energy from the staff, but she swatted him away, causing him to crashed into one of the walls. It took him a few seconds to recover from that. He was distracted by fending off seven other people, so he didn’t see Barry speeding over to him until after the Flash had stolen the Staff of Horus.

Barry aimed the staff at Savage and released a bolt of energy. The team believed that if the Staff could kill Kendra, it could also kill Savage. Barry was having trouble keeping a hold of the staff, even with the gauntlets, long enough to destroy him. between Barry and Oliver, they were able to maintain control of the weapon. There was a flash of light, a loud implosion and when it was over, a pile of ash sat on the floor where Vandal Savage had been standing.

They went back to the farmhouse, everyone said their goodbyes and Kendra thanked them all for helping end the cycle she’d been stuck in for four thousand years. Oliver drove back in to Central City to talk to Samantha about their son. She wasn’t very happy to see him, but thankfully heard him out. She agreed to let him see William as long as he didn’t tell anyone he was his father. He agreed, neglecting to mention that two people already knew.

Team Arrow went back to Star City and Oliver and Felicity returned to their loft, which was still trashed from when Savage attacked. “So, you have a son.”

“Yes. He doesn’t know I’m his father and his mother doesn’t want me to tell anyone.”

“Well, technically, you haven’t. You told Barry you thought he was your son, and I overheard. And we both found this out before the ultimatum.” Felicity argued.

“That’s true.”

 

Across town, Malcolm approached HIVE’s base. It was time for him to come to an arrangement with Damian Darhk. He was an opportunist, if nothing else, and knew HIVE was up to something big. He didn’t know if HIVE would succeed or if the Green Arrow would, but until there was a clear winner, he was going to play both sides of the line.

“Tell Mr. Darhk Ra’s al Ghul is here. And tell him I have information that might interest him.” Malcolm told the Ghost who tried to stop him at the door.


	32. Chapter 32

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oliver and Darhk face off on two fronts.

Darhk sat behind his desk in his office at HIVE’s base with a bored expression on his face. He waited as Malcolm Merlyn was brought into the room and the Ghosts escorting him left.

“I understand you ascended to the position of Demon’s Head. I suppose congratulations are in order.”

“I’d rather we not waste time saying things we don’t mean.” Malcolm said.

“Wonderful. Give me one reason why shouldn’t kill you. We are enemies after all.”

“My predecessor was your enemy. In fact, your survival was his greatest shame. I’m not him.”

“So what? You wanna team up? Like in a buddy cop movie?” He said sarcastically. “Does it look like I need allies, in any form?”

“Team up, no. Perhaps we form an alliance, perhaps we don’t. At the very least, I’d like to call a truce. I’ve got enough problems without having to worry about HIVE and you’ve got enough with the Green Arrow gunning for you.”

“Now, our organizations have been at odds for over two centuries. You want a truce, you better have something pretty valuable to offer me in return.”

“How does some information on Oliver Queen sound? His campaign is the only thing making anyone think this city is worth saving after all.” He’d hold off on telling Darhk Oliver’s little green secret for now. The Green Arrow’s identity was too valuable to reveal until a winner was clear or Oliver forced his hand.

“I’m listening.”

“It doesn’t actually involve Queen, but rather his girlfriend Felicity Smoak.” Malcolm began. Without giving too many details, he explained that he saw Felicity display an impossible amount of physical strength. He informed Darhk that it had happened more than once in his presence.

“So she’s a metahuman.”

“No, she isn’t. She says so and her DNA agrees.” After her display of strength before the team left for Central City, Malcolm got curious. When they left, he’d ordered an assassin to break into the loft and steal Felicity’s toothbrush. He then got a contact of his to run her DNA and see what it could tell him about Felicity.

“What is she then?”

 

Oliver held a campaign event by the city bay. He explained that part of his plan for Star City was to clean up the bay and restore it to its previous healthy state. The volunteer project was well underway when a drone flew over the crowd and began to attack. Felicity was able to use her tablet to disable the drone, but not before several people were hurt. Oliver called for a press conference once things had calmed down and revealed to the city who Damian Darhk was and that he was both the leader of the Ghosts and behind the attack at the bay.

Even though they’d just kicked a hornets nest by exposing Darhk, the team went through with Oliver’s holiday party. Things were awkward during set up because, while Donna wanted to spend the holidays with her only daughter, she was still angry about all of the lies Felicity had told her.

In the middle of the party, Darhk showed up and knocked Oliver out. He tried to fight the madman off, but as Oliver Queen, mayoral candidate, he could only do so much. With Oliver knocked out, the Ghosts took Thea, John and Felicity before leaving the party. Oliver and Laurel tried to find them, but kept hitting dead ends until Malcolm showed up with a communicator he claimed to have taken from a Ghost.

Oliver used the device to call Darhk and arrange a meeting. He promised to work with Darhk in exchange for their safety. He gave Oliver a location to meet him at and Oliver headed out. Laurel and Malcolm followed.

Oliver showed up at the location he was told and Darhk took him on  a tour of the facility. He explained why HIVE had sent the drone to attack the bay clean-up. They were using the bay to grow toxic algae and were trying to adapt it to be breathable. He told Oliver he’d given him a demonstration and Thea, John and Felicity were dragged into the room. They were put into a glass chamber as Darhk explained that while Oliver swore to work with him now, he thought he should get rid of any reason Oliver had to resist him.

Felicity started banging on the glass wall, not yet using her full strength.

“Let me guess, you think you can break through the wall. We’re aware of your enhanced strength and built this chamber to withstand it.” Darhk remarked. “It can withstand the force of being hit by a bazooka.”

“Bazookas hit with a force of over 2,000 pounds.” She said.

“I know that.” Dahrk said rolling his eyes.

Felicity pulled her arm all the way back and punched at the glass wall. The glass shattered. “I can lift way more than that.” As the glass broke apart, Laurel and Malcolm, dressed as the Green Arrow, made their appearances.

Malcolm and Oliver chased after Darhk while the others fought off the Ghosts. The police arrived soon after, since Laurel had tipped her father off. Over a dozen Ghosts were arrested, but Damian escaped.

The following night, Oliver and Felicity attended the tree lighting ceremony Oliver had planned a few weeks ago. He was about to flip the switch, lighting the tree when he asked Felicity to come up to the stage with him. He got down on one knee and proposed, she, of course, said yes. They lit the tree together and got into a limo to go home. They were about halfway there when a team of Ghosts appeared out of nowhere and opened fire on the limo. The driver was killed and Oliver jumped into the front seat to get them both to safety.

He pulled into the parking lot of a closed restaurant before stopping the car. “Felicity, you okay back there?” he didn’t get a response. “Felicity?!” He got out of the front seat and ran to the back door. He opened the door and an unconscious Felicity fell into his arms. There was blood coming out of her mouth and he could see bloodstains started to form on her jacket.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> About yesterday's news: I have no idea what to say, because the news hasn't fully processed in my brain yet.


	33. Chapter 33

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The aftermath of HIVE's shooting is revealed.

“Felicity, you okay back there?” Oliver didn’t get a response. “Felicity?!” He got out of the front seat and ran to the back door. He opened the door and an unconscious Felicity fell into his arms. There was blood coming out of her mouth and he could see bloodstains started to form on her jacket.

He began praying to whatever deity was listening as he felt around for a pulse. Whoever was up there must’ve been paying attention, because he found a pulse, and it was little weak, but she was alive and that’s what mattered.

He took off his jacket and pressed it over her wounds, trying to apply pressure. He was so focused on Felicity that his brain didn’t register the sound of sirens wailing until one of the EMTs was right next to him, trying to take over.

“Mr. Queen? Mr. Queen!” The woman said, raising her voice. “You’ve done what you can, now its my turn.”

“Wha- oh, yeah, sorry. I’ll-I need to call her doctor. What hospital are you taking her to?”

“Starling General. I’m sure there’s-”

“Felicity has a very unique condition. I’m not saying your doctors aren’t good but hers would be better.” Oliver said. “And I can get her there to meet the ambulance.”

“Ok.” The EMT said. “Call the doctor, and then I’m sure one of the responding officers can drive you over.”

Oliver walked a few feet away from the car and called Barry. The speedster was talking a mile a minute as soon as he picked up. “I heard there was an attack at your party. Sorry I missed it by the way, the Trickster broke out of prison and- are you okay? is everyone okay?”

“No. It’s- we got away, and on the way home, Darhk’s men attacked us. It’s Felicity.”

“Is she-?”

“She’s been shot. They’re taking her to the hospital now, but Star City doesn’t really have a doctor that specializes in her condition.”

“Caitlin and I will be there in two minutes.” Barry promised as he hung up the phone.

Caitlin wasn’t happy about Barry bursting through her door at the time of night, but as soon as the words ‘Felicity’ and ‘shooting’ came out of his mouth, she understood his urgency and grabbed her bag. As Oliver promised the EMT, Caitlin made it to the hospital before the ambulance.

They wheeled Felicity directly into an operating room and started to get to work. Oliver stayed out in the waiting room, unsure of what to do. He just sat there, with his head in his hands until Thea, John, Laurel and Donna rushed into the room.

“Where is she? What happened?”

“They took her into surgery. She- she was hit by- they didn’t want to wait to remove- this is all my fault.”

“No, it isn’t. Darhk’s-” Thea started to say.

“They attacked us because of me, she’s in surgery right now, fighting for her life, because I outed Darhk and HIVE. They were trying to kill me.”

“Yeah, because they’re evil, or so Felicity said.” Donna interrupted. “And I don’t like your tone right now.”

“My tone?” Oliver asked in an incredulous voice.

“Yeah. You’re talking like she’s not gonna make it. She’s gonna make it. My baby’s a lot of things, some of which I’m still upset about, but one thing she isn’t is a quitter.”

After several hours, Felicity was taken to a recovery room and Caitlin walked into the waiting room to find Oliver.

“How is she?”

“We don’t know for sure, but things look good.”

“How can things look good, but you not know?” Laurel asked.

“Its- Felicity’s got a very unique physiology. She’s literally one of a kind. Her wounds look more severe than they are, but I can’t predict how her body will react as she recovers from what happened tonight.” She explained. “We’re gonna keep a very close watch on her, but all we can do right now is wait.”

“Can we see her?”

“She’s still unconscious, but yes, you can.”

Oliver went in with Donna. He wanted to give Donna some privacy but he also didn’t want to wait to see his fiancé. Felicity looked tiny in the hospital bed. Felicity was normally short, but he wasn’t used to seeing her this small. It somehow made the whole situation worse.

Donna burst into tears as soon as she saw Felicity, but sat down on one side of the bed and held her daughter’s hand, whispering something to her. After several minutes, Felicity began to stir.

“Oli-“ She shouted as her eyes popped open. “Mom?”

“I’m right here, baby.”

“I- where am I? Where’s Oliver?”

“I’m right here. You’re in the hospital.”

“I- the Ghosts- why am I in the hospital?”

“You were shot while I was trying to get us away from the Ghosts. I’m so sorry.” He admitted.

“Not your fault. Unless some weird magic stuff happened and you’re really Damian Dahrk, wearing Oliver’s face.”

“Nope, I’m me.” He said with a small smile. “How are- do you need anything?”

“My left leg itches and I’m worried I’m gonna unplug something. Scratch it for me?”

“Where?”

“Right below my knee.” She said. He moved to her left side and scratched where she told him to. “Oh, that’s much better.”

“I’m gonna go get Dr. Snow.” Donna said, standing up.

“Caitlin’s here?”

“Star City doesn’t have a doctor that specializes in people like you.” Oliver justified.

Caitlin came into the room and started asking Felicity how she was feeling, did anything hurt, and other questions like that. After a few minutes of talking, Caitlin began poking Felicity in the legs at different points.

“Uh, what are you doing?”

“You can feel this?”

“Yeah. And I’m a little worried about why that’s shocking you.”

“Amazing.”

“What is?”

“We did some xrays and an MRI after we removed the bullets. They both showed a spinal cord injury. You shouldn’t be able to feel your legs.”

“How- the nanontech, right?”

“What are you two talking about?”

“The nanotech, the accident that turned me into Giganta. The tech’s still in my body, still in my bloodstream. And it looks like it healed me.”

“So, because you’re Giganta, you’re healing faster than you should be.”

“I guess.” She shrugged. When she lowered her shoulders, her left arm started growing. Only her left arm grew and when her enlarged arm fell on the ground, it made the whole bed tip over. “Oh frack. That can’t be good.”


	34. Chapter 34

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Felicity deals with an unexpected obstacle during her recovery.

“We did some xrays and an MRI after we removed the bullets. They both showed a spinal cord injury. You shouldn’t be able to feel your legs.”

“How- the nanontech, right?”

“What are you two talking about?”

“The nanotech, the accident that turned me into Giganta. The tech’s still in my body, still in my bloodstream. And it looks like it healed me.”

“So, because you’re Giganta, you’re healing faster than you should be.”

“I guess.” She shrugged. When she lowered her shoulders, her left arm started growing. Only her left arm grew and when her enlarged arm fell on the ground, it made the whole bed tip over. “Oh frack.”

Oliver and Caitlin just stood there for several seconds, unsure of what to do.

“Could I maybe get some help over here?” Felicity shouted from where she was laying on the floor with the hospital bed on top of her.

Her question snapped them both out of their stupor and they rushed to help. They righted the bed and Caitlin looked her over again to make sure she wasn’t hurt.

“Why’d you do that?”

“I didn’t.” Felicity said. “Why would I wanna grow just one of my arms?”

“Then, how did it happen?” Oliver asked.

“No idea.” Felicity stayed there, staring up at the ceiling for several seconds. She took several deep breaths and, thankfully, her arm slowly shrunk back down to its normal size. It was only when that happened that she decided to get up off of the floor. “That was weird.”

Caitlin became very interested in the wall over Felicity’s shoulder. Oliver’s eyes widened for a second when he looked down before he caught himself and looked back at Felicity’s face.

“Felicity, honey, um-“

“What?”

“Look down.” He said. “Your- that’s happening.”

Felicity’s breasts had begun to grow. They grew so much that they’d torn the fabric of the hospital gown she was wearing, which was why Caitlin was fascinated by the wall and why Oliver was trying very hard not to stare. To make matters worse, they were still growing. It looked like she had two beach balls strapped to her chest that were still being inflated.

“What is happening to me?” She asked, freaking out.

This wasn’t supposed to be happening. Felicity’s powers weren’t new. She knew how to control them, so why was she suddenly growing randomly without meaning to?

“I don’t know, but we’re gonna figure it out.” Oliver reassured her.

He said that right as there was a knock at the door and someone started to open it.

“Don’t come in here!” Felicity yelled. She was topless, her body’s proportions were all out of whack and she definitely didn’t want her mother, her friends or worse a random staff member to see her like this.

Caitlin rushed over to the door to see who it was. a nurse had come to take Felicity’s vitals. She assured the woman that she’d handle it and told her to continue her rounds. Not wanting to completely mislead the nurse, Caitlin did take a reading of Felicity’s blood pressure and her temperature.

“I need to get out of here.” Felicity said with a groan. Her chest started to shrink again, but she had a feeling that the relief was temporary. “I can’t- if I start growing and someone walks in- not to mention what happens if I get too big.”

“Her powers are tied to your mood, right?” Oliver asked. “The last 24 hours has been a roller coaster, so it would make sense that your emotions, and as a result your powers, are all over the place right now.”

“We still can’t take that risk.”

“You were shot. You just had emergency surgery. We can’t- you need to be in the hospital, you can’t just go back to the loft.” He argued.

“We could always take her to Star Labs.” Caitlin had a theory about why this was happening, but she needed some of her equipment at Star Labs to confirm her theory.

“I already destroyed the roof once.” Felicity pointed out.

“The roof’s just metal. We can replace or rebuild it if something happens. Making sure you’re okay and keeping your secret is more important than a building.” She said. “I’ll tell the nurses that because of your rare condition, we need to move you to Central City.”

“It’s that easy? Isn’t there like paperwork you need to fill out or something?” Oliver asked.

“Mountains of it. Good thing we know someone who writes really fast.” Would Barry be happy about having to fill out all of the forms? No. But he’d suck it up and deal with it to help Felicity.

Oliver was about to say something when his phone buzzed. He had a text from Thea, asking him what was going on. He’d been in there for a while and all they heard in the hallway was a crash followed by someone yelling.

“I’m gonna go tell Speedy and the others what’s going on.”

Caitlin, Barry, and surprisingly Amanda Waller, got things squared away so that Felicity could quickly, and covertly, be taken to Star Labs. Oliver knew Waller was only doing this to help herself, but he was too worried about Felicity to wonder what Amanda was really up to at the moment.

It was a good thing they had ARGUS’s help, since halfway there, Felicity’s powers started to fluctuate again. Her stomach started to grow until she looked like a woman several weeks past her delivery date, carrying septuplets.

 

Darhk sat behind his desk, listening to the woman in front of him talk without paying attention. That was, until she told him what happened during her rounds.

“What do you mean, they didn’t let you into Felicity Smoak’s room?”

News of the shooting had spread. Some news outlets had already realized HIVE’s involvement while others were reluctant to blame someone so quickly. Along with news of the shooting, news of Felicity’s survival and hospitalization had also spread. Darhk blackmailed an ICU nurse into collecting a sample of Felicity’s blood so they could test it. She was also supposed to inject her with a sedative so that HIVE could come and ‘collect’ Felicity after all her visitors had left.

“Her doctor was still in the room. She wouldn’t let me in and said she’d taken her vitals.”

“Since when does a doctor take a patient’s vitals? That’s a nurse’s job.” Damien said. “So, to summarize, I gave you a task and you failed.”

“No, I- I work again tomorrow, I can get you what you asked for then.”

“I didn’t ask for it tomorrow, did I? I said today.” He reminded her. “I hate people who give me excuses.”

“My son-“

“I told you what would happen if you failed.” He cut her off. “But since you tried, and to prove I’m not a complete monster, I’ll let you say goodbye.” The nurse tried to reassure her son, even as Darhk used his magic to kill the boy. “If you come here tomorrow, having failed again, your daughter will suffer.”

The nurse ran from the room.

“’You know she won’t still be at Starling General, right?” Malcolm said, stepping out of the shadows. “Oliver Queen might not be very bright, but he’s not a complete idiot. You almost killed her once, at the hospital she’d be vulnerable, given how many staff members go in and out of patients rooms. She’s probably already been moved.”

“As far as anyone knows, the intended target was Oliver, and his fiancé was just an unfortunate bystander.”

“As true as that is, it doesn’t mean he isn’t gonna go to great lengths to keep her safe.”


	35. Chapter 35

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Caitlin tries to figure out what's happening to Felicity, while HIVE tries to regroup.

Darhk and the other members of HIVE gathered around a series of TVs, waiting for the evening news to start. While they already had their plans set in motion, they knew that events in Star City could drastically change how smoothly their plan went. Oliver Queen had exposed them. Their attempt to take him off of the board hadn’t worked. They needed to regroup, but first they needed to know how the last few days were being perceived. The musical theme that opened the evening news began and a camera trained itself on one of the anchors.

“Good evening, we have a number of stories to get to tonight, but first we’d like to give an update about the shooting, and believed assassination attempt, on Oliver Queen we reported last night.” She read. “It’s been confirmed that Oliver Queen is unharmed, although his fiancé Felicity Smoak was hit by stray bullets. The SCPD has not released a statement about potential motives, but many believe Damien Darhk, the terrorist Mr. Queen exposed just one day before this attack, is responsible. Anyone with any information is urged to come forward. Mr. Queen released a statement thanking the people of Star City for their support but requesting privacy as he helps his fiancé recover. Everyone here at Channel 52 news wishes Mr. Queen and Ms. Smoak a fast recovery. In another story, the Flash-”

The TVs were turned off by Ruve, who had entered the room at the end of the story. “Well, that’s just fantastic.”

“Honey.”

“Instead of killing him, or her, you made them both sympathetic. Imagine if one of them had died. You would’ve made them martyrs.” She pointed out. “Genesis relies on this city giving up on saving itself. Gunning down the man trying to save it won’t make that happen.”

* * *

 

**Central City**

The ARGUS caravan pulled into the garage underneath Star Labs. With help from two of the agents, Oliver and Barry, they wheeled Felicity into the freight elevator and got her to Caitlin’s lab. Felicity’s body looked normal at the moment, but everyone was sure this was just a passing thing.

“I’ll tell Director Waller to expect your call.” One of the agents said as he was leaving.

“She shouldn’t. She didn’t do me a favor. ARGUS escorted us here because us being here, and Felicity’s condition staying secret, helps Waller. She wants me to owe her, tell her to do something about Darhk, then we’ll talk.” Oliver said before turning his attention back to Felicity.

The two agents went back to ARGUS’s headquarters and delivered Oliver’s message. Waller was annoyed, but unsurprised by Oliver’s remarks. He might’ve had a point, but first Amanda had a bigger problem. Two ARGUS agents, ones who didn’t have the clearance to know Giganta’s real identity, now knew who she was. She couldn’t risk that information getting out.

“I have an assignment for both of you. I have to warn you, its dangerous.” She told them. As the saying went, dead men tell no tales.

 

At Star Labs, Oliver entered Caitlin’s lab just as she started looking Felicity over more closely. She’d finished taking her temperature and measuring her blood pressure and wanted to start inspecting her wounds and reflexes.

“Ok, before you- can you send someone to go get like three large pizzas?” Felicity asked. “Because I am famished.”

“Felicity, I don’t know if-“

“I haven’t eaten anything since before the shooting and I was getting hungry when that happened and I’m starting to get all whoozy. I don’t think we want to add ‘Felicity passes out and we can’t move her’ on top of our existing problems.” She rambled. She then paused. “Why am I taller than I was a second ago?”

When she started talking, Felicity was sitting up and had been eye level with Caitlin. Now, she was looking over Oliver’s head.

“You kinda- your butt’s inflated.” Oliver said.

Felicity’s backside had started to expand when Oliver entered the room. As the seconds ticked on and her ramble continued, it grew bigger and bigger to the point where it looked like she was sitting on top of a huge, overinflated yoga ball. The fact that the rest of her stayed the same size made the sight look very unsettling.

“Hey, we- what the hell happened to you?” Cisco said as he entered the room and saw Felicity.

“Not helping.” Oliver growled. “Go get food.”

“Hey, man, I-“

“Food or I’m gonna shoot you with an arrow.” He threatened. Cisco turned on his heels and walked off.

Oliver turned back around to his fiancé, who looked like she was about to cry. He opened his mouth to ask her what he could do to help her when she burst into tears.

“I’m a freak!”

“No, you aren’t.”

“I’ve got the Elephant Man’s ass right now. You won’t even look at me! I’m a freak.”

He rushed over to her and stood right in front of her, looking at her unblinking. “Look at me. You, Felicity Megan Smoak, aren’t a freak. Something’s happening to you, yes, but you aren’t a freak. We’re gonna figure this out, okay?” She didn’t look like she believed him. “Take a deep breath. Just do what I do. In and out.”

She slowly calmed down, and her butt reduced in size with each calming breath that she took. Felicity let out a sigh of relief, happy she was normal again, only for her left foot to start to grow.

“Not again. What is happening to me?”

“I don’t know, but we’re gonna figure it out, okay?” Caitlin said as she walked over with a syringe. “I need to take some blood.”

“Oh frack, blood.” Felicity started to panic.

“It’s a little syringe.” Oliver said.

“No, they took my blood at Starling General. What if they test it? What if Darhk gets his hands on it?”

“Your blood is normal, remember? When you- when this first started happening to you, we did a blood test. Nothing about your blood is different from Oliver’s or any other persons.”

“Besides, ARGUS confiscated the blood when we were moving you.” Oliver said.

“So Waller has it? That doesn’t make me feel any better.”

He smirked and pulled something out of his pocket. “No, she doesn’t have it either. I had Barry pickpocket the agents before they left.”


	36. Chapter 36

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Felicity continues to have problems with her powers.

“Waller has my blood?” Felicity asked. “That doesn’t make me feel any better.”

Oliver smirked and pulled something out of his pocket. “No, she doesn’t have it either. I had Barry pickpocket the agents before they left. I think they might’ve been new.”

“Ok, great. Because Waller having my blood is only slightly less scary than HIVE getting it.”

“You really don’t like Waller, do you?”

“Yes! Just based off of what she was gonna do during the Deathstroke situation I don’t like her. Not to mention everything you told me about what she did in Hong Kong.” Felicity answered. She heard a faint ripping noise but ignored it.

“Honey, you need to calm down.”

“Don’t tell me to calm down!” The ripping noise got louder and suddenly, Felicity’s legs were cold.

“Felicity, you should really-“ Caitlin started to say.

Felicity didn’t realize it, but as she spoke, she started to inflate. Unlike her previous random growth spurts, Felicity’s body was growing proportionally. Her head was growing, her torso was growing, her legs were growing. Her entire body filled out like a Super Bowl blimp. Oliver thought her growth looked a lot like the scene in Willy Wonka when Violet starts to turn into a giant blueberry. She’d turned into a big, round, Felicity-balloon.

The blonde kept growing until her head burst through the ceiling. “What are you- Ow!” She seemed to suddenly realize that she’d been growing this whole time and tried to shrink back town. “That’s what you were trying to tell me, wasn’t it?”

“Yup. Remind me not to mention Waller around you or tell you to calm down.”

“It’s not- I wasn’t even that angry, I just- can we do these tests, please?” She asked Caitlin.

“Sure.” The doctor said. “But, I think first you should shrink and change into your suit. You kinda- the hospital gown didn’t survive your growth spurt.”

Felicity realized why she suddenly felt cold. It was because she was completely naked. She tried to use her hands and arms to cover herself but it only did so much. “Stop looking at me! Oh, god. This is like every nightmare I’ve ever had rolled into one. Except for the one where the kangaroos attack me. Why’d I say that? Now I’m picturing it happening. They’re really-”

“Felicity, focus.” Oliver said, staring at the floor.

The blonde shrunk down to the point where she could move her arms enough to get her Giganta suit on. She was still nearly ten feet tall though.

“I need you to shrink down a little more before I can take some blood.” Caitlin told her.

“Right. Taking blood from veins the size of PVC pipe probably isn’t that easy.”

Felicity took several deep breaths. She shrunk down until she was around six and a half feet tall, which was close enough to her normal size for Caitlin to be able to do what she needed to do. They ran a blood test. They did a normal battery of tests, checking Felicity’s reflexes and blood pressure. Caitlin even had her do an EKG and a stress test.

When the tests were done, and they were waiting for the results, Cisco came back with food. He came into the room with boxes of food, followed by a mousy-looking brunette woman. She was dressed like a stereotypical dowdy librarian, glasses and all.

“How are you feeling? I’m so glad to hear you’re okay.” The woman said to Felicity.

“I’m- I don’t know. Things have been kinda weird for the last few days.” She then realized that Oliver hadn’t been introduced to the woman. “Oh, sorry. Kitty, this is my fiancé Oliver. Oliver, this is Kitty.”

“Nice to meet you.” Kitty said. “Is your ‘kinda weird’ because of your…growth problem?”

Kitty wasn’t very tall, but because of her dietary needs, she’d put on a considerable amount of weight since Felicity had last seen her. She wasn’t morbidly obese by any means, but she was a little on the heavy side.

“Yeah, I keep-“ Felicity started to answer, but before she could explain, the entire lower half of her body started to grow. She had a tiny torso on top of a set of hips and legs that were the size of a parade balloon. “This keeps happening.”

“That’s is so awesome!” Cisco announced.

“I brought my bow with me.” Oliver said in a warning tone.

Felicity had a different reaction. “Zip it Cisco. I will sit on you and crush you.”

“So violent. You guys really are made for each other.” he said, sulking out of the room.


	37. Chapter 37

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Felicity and Oliver finally learn what's causing her spontaneous growth spurts.

“So, you just keep growing at disproportionate rates?” Kitty asked after Cisco left the room.

“Not quite. I grow, I don’t realize I’m growing and the next thing I know, one leg’s a normal size, the other’s the size of a tree trunk. To make it worse, half the time I started growing, I’m finding it hard to stop.” Felicity said. “Then, I stop, somehow. I calm down, and get everything back to its normal size. Fifteen minutes later, the cycle just restarts.”

“Is that, you know, safe?” The archivist asked. “Growing and shrinking that often can’t be good for your body. Not to mention the energy doing that would burn.”

“It’s not comfortable or pleasant, but there’s nothing I can really do about it.” She answered. “How are you?”

“Well, I haven’t gone all ‘me hungry’ and eaten everything at an all-you-can-eat buffet since the last time you saw me.” Kitty said. “Not looking forward to bathing suit season though.” She gestured to her noticeably rounder stomach and muffin top.

“You look great.” Felicity said. Kitty had been petite, almost underweight, when they first met. Now, she was a little on the heavy side, but she still looked healthy. She was about to say something else when her stomach started to rumble. “Right, almost forgot it was feeding time.”

“Felicity-“ Oliver said.

“I need to find some humor in this. I wanna be self-depreciating. Let me have this.” She said. “And there’s probably some campaign stuff you’ve been ignoring for me.”

“Thea’s only called two times.” He said. She leveled him with a look that said she knew he was lying. “Not including the 15 other times she’s called.”

“Ok, so go call her back. Tell her everything’s okay. It’ll get your mind off of things for a little bit.”

“Okay.” He agreed, kissing her on the forehead before leaving the room. 

* * *

 

**Star City**

“What do you mean ‘she’s gone’?” Darhk practically yelled into the phone. The nurse he’d blackmailed the day early arrived at work to discover Felicity wasn’t there. She called him to report the news.

“Her hospital room has been emptied out and sterilized, Mr. Darhk. She isn’t at Starling General.” The nurse said with a fearful voice.

“She was shot multiple times. They needed to perform emergency surgery on her. It’s not like she could just stand up and walk out. What idiot doctor discharged her?”

“I’m trying to find her chart, but it’s not here. Hold on a second, “ she said. From his end, Damien could hear her talking to someone, likely another nurse. Their conversation wasn’t long and then she must’ve picked the phone back up. “I asked another nurse. She was moved to another hospital. So was her bloodwork and everything.”

“Which hospital?” Dahrk practically spat.

“I- I don’t know.” She admitted.

“Come to my office once your shift ends.” He barked before hanging up.

“I told you it wouldn’t be that easy.” Malcolm said, stepping out of the shadows. “Oliver Queen paranoid and you almost killed a woman he loves. He’s lost two women he loved already and nearly lost a third. Your plan was never gonna work.”

“I don’t see you suggesting an alternative. Or a better idea.”

“That’s because I don’t have one. There are only so many places he could hide her, few of which would have the facilities to help her heal.” He answered.

“So, you don’t have a plan, but you’ve got an idea of where she might’ve gone. Let’s hear it.”

“His best friend is married to an ARGUS agent. He might not trust ARGUS, but its certainly more secure than Starling General.”

* * *

 

**Central City**

Oliver was on the phone with Thea when Barry came running down the hallway at full speed. He’d deny it later, but Oliver actually flinched and braced himself to get knocked over when it didn’t seem like he was going to slow down. The speedster skidded to a stop a foot away from Oliver and started talking.

“I need you to slow down. I can’t understand what you’re saying.” He said when Barry seemed confused by his lack of a reaction.

“Oh, right.” He said, taking a breath. “Caitlin thinks she figured out what’s wrong with Felicity’s abilities. Felicity said she wanted to wait for you to come back before Caitlin tells her.”

Oliver didn’t answer but started walking down the hallway to where Felicity was. He was hoping the sooner he got there, the sooner they’d get an explanation and the sooner they got an explanation, they sooner Felicity would be back to normal.

He entered the lab and walked over to where Felicity was. She was a little taller than normal, but that didn’t translate to her being wider. She still looked like Felicity, just a little more stretched out than normal.

“What’s the verdict, doc?” Felicity asked jokingly, trying to diffuse the tension.

“Your injury is why your powers are fluctuating.” Caitlin answered.

“Wait, so because I got shot, I can’t control my powers? I’m gonna be like this the rest of my life because of the shooting?” She asked in a frustrated tone.

“No, I- I didn’t explain that correctly. This isn’t permanent. Your powers are off because your body is trying to heal. It’s focused on healing your injuries which means not as much energy is being devoted to keeping you at your normal size. As you heal, your control will return.”

“I’m not a doctor, and I’m not saying you’re wrong, but that explanation doesn’t make a lot of sense.” Oliver said.

“Actually, it kinda does.” Felicity cut in. “It’s kinda like how you can catch a cold while recovering from a  different cold. Your immune system isn’t as strong so its harder to fight off the second cold.”

“But when you heal, your powers will go back to being easier to control?”

“I really hope so.”


	38. Chapter 38

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ARGUS gets attacked, which leads to Waller coming to a terrifying conclusion.

**Star City-ARGUS Base**

Darhk watched in amusement as the life drained out of the eyes of the ARGUS agent who tried to stop his and the Ghosts’ pursuit. He’d always had a sick sense of humor and it had only gotten worse the longer he lived.

“You’d think after the twentieth time they’d learn that their guns won’t do anything and if they don’t give me what I want then I’ll just suck the life right out of them.” He remarked.

His minions didn’t respond and he rolled his eyes at the non-response. He liked the fact that his followers were obedient to the point of killing themselves if he asked, but that also made them so incredibly boring.  Was it too much to ask for a grunt of agreement or a chuckle once in a while?

He rolled his eyes and moved forward. He rounded the corner to see one lone guard, who was probably new, gripping his gun with trembling hands. “What- what do you want?” His voice even cracked a little bit.

“Do your parents know you’re here?” Darhk asked. The guard gripped his weapon tighter and repeated the question. “Felicity Smoak, where is she?”

“I don’t- she’s not here.”

“And you just expect me to believe you?” Damien asked as he advanced towards him.

The guard soon joined the rest of his dead colleagues. The Ghosts searched the entire base, but found it mostly empty. The only staff were the guards Darhk had killed and, other than a few handguns, there wasn’t anything useful. Clearly, after they almost stole ARGUS’s chemical bomb, Waller had decided to close up this base and establish a new one.

“What do you know, he was telling the truth.” Darhk remarked as they were leaving.

Felicity Smoak wasn’t here, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t at an ARGUS base.

* * *

 

**Central City**

After Caitlin had explained her theory about what was going on with Felicity, she left the blonde alone to talk with Oliver. While her explanation did make a lot of sense, it was by no means watertight or without its own problems. The analogy about catching a cold while recovering from another one wasn’t exactly a one-to-one parallel about what was happening. She said she needed to run some more tests and left them to talk.

“So, at least now we know what’s wrong.” Oliver remarked.

“No, not really. We have a theory. It’s a good theory and it makes sense, but our only way of proving or disproving it is by waiting and seeing. I hate waiting a seeing.” Felicity said, shifting in her chair and letting out a disappointed sigh when it started to creak.

“What do you mean?”

“Scientific theories, for the most part, are based on observational data or empirical evidence. We know flu vaccines are effective because there’s data that proves people with the flu shot are extremely unlikely to get that strand of flu afterwards. We know that the bystander effect is real because there have been studies on it. There isn’t any real data that proves what Caitlin said was correct. Yet.”

“Yet?”

“The nanotech fused with my DNA in a way we still don’t understand and we can’t replicate. Even Ray, who created the tech and knows it better than anyone, can’t explain how it happened. I’m the only person on Earth with my condition which means how my body works, how the different systems operate and cooperate with each other is a mystery. The only way to prove or disprove what Caitlin said is to wait for me to heal from the shooting and just see what happens.”

“Ok, well, you and I are gonna-“

“Can I-? I wanna ask you to do something, but I don’t want you to get offended or upset.” Felicity cut in. She loved Oliver, but he was being a little too clingy right now. She felt like he was suffocating her, which she knew was because he felt guilty about the shooting, but it was starting to grate on her.

“Anything.”

“I kinda- I need some Felicity-time right now.” She said slowly. “You didn’t do anything wrong, but I wanna- I want some time alone.”

“Oh, ok.” He said.

“Hey, maybe since we’re in Central City, you can go see William.” She suggested. “Or you can have that rematch with Barry.”

* * *

 

**Starling City**

Waller and a team of ARGUS agents had arrived at the base HIVE had attacked about half an hour after they left. They could’ve arrived sooner, but Waller was more interested in learning what they were after than stopping the attack. The agents knew what they were signing up for when they joined ARGUS. Nothing was really missing from the building and based on the corpses they found, most of the agents had been killed by Darhk personally.

“Did we get anything from the cameras?” Waller asked.

“There was only one they didn’t remember to shoot.” One of the technicians told her.

They watched the footage and saw that Darhk had come looking for Felicity. Why he was after her seemed apparent, but Waller had no idea why HIVE thought she’d be at the base. She gave out an order to take care of the bodies and left the base. She and Felicity needed to have a chat.

* * *

 

**C** **entral City**

When Oliver left to give Felicity some space, she started to grow again. This time, her breasts started to expand to the point where it looked like she had two giant yoga balls attached to her chest. If the experience wasn’t so distressing, she would’ve found the size they’d grown to comical. She looked like one of those anime characters that inexplicably had boobs that were larger than the rest of their bodies.

After a lot of work calming herself down, her breasts shrunk back down. When they reached a size where her back wasn’t aching any longer, her phone rang.

“Hello?”

“We have a problem.”

“What do you want, Waller?”

“Darhk came to ARGUS looking for you. How does he know that you’re Giganta?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a head's up, there won't be a chapter next week due to boring, real life stuff.


	39. Chapter 39

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Waller thinks Felicity's cover is blown, she isn't so sure and realizes something quite troubling.

“What do you want, Waller?” Felicity asked.

“Darhk came to ARGUS looking for you. How does he know that you’re Giganta?”

Felicity paused for a second. “He doesn’t.”

“Really? Then how come he came here with the clear and sole intention of kidnapping you?”

“I can think of plenty of reasons. He tried to kill me, he wants to destroy Star City, Oliver exposed him. There are about half a dozen more I could list, if you want.”

“None of those answers explain why he thought you would be at an ARGUS base.” Waller said. “Clearly, he knows you’re Giganta.”

“He doesn’t though. Very few people know who I really am, none of which would’ve told Darhk. Unless, of course, ARGUS has a leak.” She shot back. “Maybe I’m not the one you should be questioning.”

“Unless you’re implying Agent Michaels would’ve told Damien Darhk, I’m questioning the right person. Last time you saw Darhk, what happened.”

“He put me in a gas chamber and tried to-“ Felicity paused. She remembered the conversation she’d had with Darhk. He said the chamber was strong enough to withhold her strength, or at least that’s what he thought, he didn’t say anything about her growth abilities. “He doesn’t know I’m Giganta. He knows I have powers, but he thinks they’re just super strength.”

“Why are you so sure?”

“Because when he was trying to kill me, and Thea and John, he said the glass chamber he put us in could withstand my strength. He didn’t say anything about my ability to grow or even hint that he knew I was Giganta.”

“Maybe he knew, but didn’t say anything.” Felicity’s explanation made sense, but there was a chance Darhk knew everything and she couldn’t take that kind of chance with Felicity who was basically a walking nuclear bomb.

“He thought he’d won. If he was gonna gloat, he was gonna gloat about everything. Besides, he wanted to recruit Giganta, for some reason. I think if he knew my identity, he would’ve tried the whole ‘join me or I’ll kill you’ angle instead of just trying to kill me.”

“I can’t take that chance.” Waller told her.

“You aren’t involved in this at all, Amanda. Thanks for the head’s up, but, as I told you months ago, I don’t work for you. I’m not affiliated with ARGUS.”

“And as I told you, even if you aren’t a threat, you’re still a potential danger. And I warned you not to make that danger my problem again.”

“I’m not the danger, Darhk and HIVE are.” Felicity responded. “Maybe spend less time threatening me and more time trying to stop them.” She hung up before Waller could respond.

“Everything okay?” Oliver asked from the doorway.

“Darhk attacked an empty ARGUS base, looking for me. Waller is convinced he learned I’m Giganta. I think he just thinks I have superstrength.”

“How did he know anyway? About your strength? I mean, he said that glass chamber he was gonna kill you in was reinforced so you couldn’t break it. How could he have known to do that?”

“No clue. Malcolm maybe? He did see me through solid metal after all. And wasn’t subtle when he started asking me about it.”

“Why would Malcolm join Darhk though?”

“I don’t think he joined Darhk, but that doesn’t mean he wouldn’t appear to.”

“What are you saying?”

“Malcolm’s a cockroach. He isn’t gonna pick a side because if he picks a side and his side loses, he loses. He’s gonna play for both teams until a clear winner emerges.” Felicity explained. “Malcolm’s only in this for Malcolm. And Thea.”

Oliver wasn’t shocked by Felicity’s suggestion. It made sense, as angry as he was to admit it. He went to find Cisco.

* * *

 

**Star City**

Darhk came back from his failed attempt to kidnap Felicity and ordered a Ghost to bring Malcolm to him. The Ghost didn’t return, but another came back with only his head and a note from Malcolm saying that he couldn’t be summoned. Damien would’ve found the response funny, but he was too annoyed at failing to capture Felicity and sent a group of Ghosts to find Malcolm and ‘politely request’ his presence.

Malcolm came to HIVE’s headquarters the following day. He was sure that by now, Darhk understood exactly where they stood, as more frenemies than anything else, and since Damien knew how the League worked, they wouldn’t make a move to do anything about Malcolm.

“You cut off one of my soldier’s heads.” Darhk said when he saw Malcolm.

“He seemed to think I answered to you. I don’t take disrespect well.” He said.

“She wasn’t there.”

“What?”

“Felicity Smoak. She wasn’t at ARGUS, where you said she would be.”

“I never said she’d be there. I claimed it was the most likely place Oliver Queen would’ve taken her. I told you my suspicion, nothing more.”

“Any other theories you’d like to share with me?”

“That depends. What is it you want from Ms. Smoak?”

“I want to know what makes her so special, how she came to be so strong. Imagine what an army of people with her strength could do. Genesis would go off without a hitch.” He answered. “Now, any theories to share?”

“If her injuries were…..particularly bad, there is a hospital in Metropolis she might’ve been rushed to.” Star Labs was his first guess, but Malcolm was still playing both sides of fence. And Darhk had asked for any theories he had, not the theory that seemed the most likely.

“That far away?”

“The doctors there are more equipped to deal with people like her than anyone at Starling General.” He said before walking away.

 

Malcolm returned to his hideout. He stepped into the room and knew he wasn’t alone. “Were you going to hide in the dark all night?”

“If that’s what it took, yes.” Oliver said, turning on the light. Thea and Laurel were sitting in the room as well.

“What brings you by?”

“You’ve been meeting with Darhk. Giving him information about us, about our plans to stop him, about Felicity. I wanna know what you told him.”

“And what he told you.” Thea added. “So, talk. Dad.”


	40. Chapter 40

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oliver gets some answers while Felicity tries to regain control of her powers.

Malcolm returned to his hideout. He stepped into the room and knew he wasn’t alone. “Were you going to hide in the dark all night?”

“If that’s what it took, yes.” Oliver said, turning on the light. Thea and Laurel were sitting in the room as well.

“What brings you by?”

“You’ve been meeting with Darhk. Giving him information about us, about our plans to stop him, about Felicity. I wanna know what you told him.”

“And what he told you.” Thea added. “So, talk. Dad.”

“It’s not that-“

“What? It’s not that simple? Because it sounds like you waltzed up to HIVE and just decided to tell him about Felicity’s powers. Who knows what else you told him?” She said.

“Lance blew his cover with Darhk. You didn’t have anyone on the inside to tell you what was going on. My….past encounters with the Arrow made me the most likely choice. So, I went to Darhk and I offered him information. I told him Felicity has superstrength. He was bound to find out about it eventually.”

“So, you just told him, and got nothing in return.” Oliver said. “You gave away that secret, and he tried to kill us. He attacked an ARGUS base looking for her. And you’re saying you don’t know why.”

“Your fiancé is a computer genius who can punch through walls. She isn’t much of a threat to Darhk or even a challenge. The shooting was meant to kill you, but when that didn’t work, he got an opportunity. He wants to  figure out how Felicity got superstrength. If he knows how she got it, he can repeat the process with the Ghosts.”

“And were you going to tell us any of this?” Laurel said.

“I was, when I deemed it important for you to know.” He said. “And I’ve been getting bits of information from him this while time. None of it has been particularly groundbreaking. Just talk about remaking the world.”

One of the assassins Oliver had knocked out woke up. “My Lord?”

“Stand down. The Green Arrow and his allies were just leaving.” He said. “When I have something to share with you, you will know.”

The team left and went to the lair. Everyone was concerned about Malcolm working with Darhk, in any capacity. Oliver was slightly relieved that it seemed neither Darhk nor Merlyn knew the truth about Felicity. Her safety was his priority after all. 

* * *

 

**Central City- Next Day**

Felicity was eating her ninth bagel in a row when Cisco and Caitlin came into the room. Caitlin looked normal, but Cisco had a look of intense determination on his face.

“Okay, test time.”

“Uh, what are we testing?” the blonde asked.

“It’s been over 12 hours since your last Alice in Wonderland moment. Your powers aren’t fluctuating as wildly anymore. So, its time to see how much control you have right now.” He said. “Grow.”

“No.” She said, taking another bite. “I’m not one of those seals that balances things on its nose. You don’t get to just point at me and demand I perform a trick for you. Besides, I’m eating.”

“Well, hurry and finish. We’ve got tests to run.”

“Get out, Cisco.” Felicity said, rolling her eyes. “I’m hungry, I’m tired, I don’t feel like doing this right now. You can wait.”

“I told you this wouldn’t go over well.” Caitlin said. “She’ll test her control when she’s ready.”

“Thanks Cait.”

Cisco left grumbling. “Sorry, he created a new alloy and he needs someone with your strength to test it. He’s a little too excited to see if you can punch through it to think about tact.”

“Well, that’s at least understandable. When someone walks up to me and demands I grow, it kinda feels like they’re really saying ‘become a giant freak so we can laugh at you’. I don’t have my powers but people don’t scream and run away when they see Oliver or Barry coming.” Caitlin didn’t have a response for that. Felicity finished her food and stood up. “Okay, I think I’m ready.”

“You sure?”

“Well, I’ve gotta start some time.” She shrugged.

“Okay.” the doctor said as she fitted Felicity with a device to read her pulse and blood pressure. “Let’s start with something simple. Expand your stomach out.”

“How far out?”

“Let’s go with ‘eight month pregnant belly’.”

Felicity extender her stomach out. it reached the point Caitlin was looking for. Then, it kept growing. “Frack!” It grew a few inches further out before it started to shrink back in. Caitlin frowned and wrote something down on her sheet.

“Let’s try growing your whole body at once. To about nine feet tall.”

Just like when Felicity was trying to expand her stomach, she grew to the right height, but then kept growing. She shrunk back down, feeling defeated.

“Ok, I have a better idea. Grow just a few inches. To five feet, ten inches.” Caitlin suggested. Felicity did it and waited for the next instruction. “I want you to try and stay at that height for as long as you can.”

“What?”

“You heard me.”

Felicity was able to maintain her slightly larger form for about twenty minutes before her powers started going haywire again. It took a lot of work, but she made it back down to her normal height eventually.

“Well, that was a bust all around.” she said dejectedly.

“Your body’s still recovering. It’s been through massive trauma. You weren’t gonna have perfect control right off of the bat.”

“It feels like I’m back at square one.”

“In a lot of ways, you are. if your body wasn’t as unique as it is, you’d be trying to relearn how to walk right now.” Caitlin said. “It’s gonna take time.”


	41. Chapter 41

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Felicity gets a few things off her chest.

“It feels like I’m back at square one.” Felicity said dejectedly.

“In a lot of ways, you are. if your body wasn’t as unique as it is, you’d be trying to relearn how to walk right now.” Caitlin said. “It’s gonna take time.”

“What if I don’t have enough time?”

“What do you mean? Did something else happen?”

“Well, Waller thinks Darhk and the rest of HIVE figured out I’m Giganta. She pulled her usual ‘handle this or I will’ schtick. Oliver hasn’t come back from his trip to learn more about what HIVE’s up to and on top of that, my body hates me.”

“Your body doesn’t hate you, its recovering.”

“No, it hates me. And I don’t mean because it’s trying to heal. I mean, it just hates me. I have to eat constantly in order not to die, but because I eat so much, I have people asking me if I’m eating for two. Any unflattering picture I take gets sent to the paparazzi who decide I’m pregnant but unwilling to admit it. Then, there’s the reactions I get as Giganta. When criminals, critics, whoever speak against the Green Arrow, they talk about his methods, is he actually helping or just creating bigger problems. With me, it’s always just that I’m a freak and after they’ve said their speech, they add ‘oh, and you’re fat’. It sucks.” She said. “I saved dozens of people from a burning building one night and the next day, someone put out an article about my cellulite.”

“That’s…I’m sorry, that’s horrible.”

“And you know, Speedy and Black Canary, people say sexist stuff to and about them all the time, but it’s not the same. They get weird sexual innuendos, while the whole world makes fun of my condition and criminals I catch ask if I’m gonna eat them.” She said, starting to tear up. This moment was a long time coming and it felt good for Felicity to finally get all of these things off of her chest. “Oh, and on top of that I’m a walking nuclear bomb.”

“Yes, you are. You could grow to the right size and explode, taking the city with you.” Caitlin agreed. “You’re also the CEO of a multibillion dollar company. You’re a tech genius. You were a hero long before your accident and one of the most compassionate people I’ve ever met. People are, excuse my language, assholes. It doesn’t mean they’re right.” She started cleaning up the lab. “I think we should wait a little longer before you try growing again.”

“My body’s healed, mostly.”

“Let’s let it heal a little more. No harm in being cautious.” The doctor told her.

Caitlin knew Felicity’s struggle might be due to her physical injuries, but that didn’t mean she was ignoring the other possibilities. Felicity had been shot. Someone tried to kill her, and nearly succeeded. It wasn’t outside the realm of possibility that Felicity’s growth problems were partially psychological or even psychosomatic.

Felicity left the lab and went looking for somewhere quiet to think. She wound up standing on one of the catwalks above the particle accelerator. She sat above the device, swinging her legs back and forth over the edge of the walkway.

“I thought you weren’t big on heights.” Oliver said, walking over and sitting down next to her.

“Well, when you can grow to be 50 stories tall, you get over any fear of heights really quickly.” She said. “How’d you get back so fast?”

“Barry.” He answered. “I may have threatened to shoot him with an arrow. Again.”

“How did the mission go?”

“You were right. Malcolm told Darhk you have superstrength. He thinks that all you can do, so that’s all Darhk wants you for.”

“Why does he want me at all?”

“You’re super strong. If he can make the Ghosts all super strong-.”

“So, he wants an army of me. Imagine if he knew the truth.” She sighed. “Why’s Malcolm telling Darhk anything anyways?”

“He claims we need an inside man and Lance blew his cover. Merlyn and the Arrow have never seen eye-to-eye, so it makes the most sense.” He said. “Enemy of my enemy and all that. I don’t know how much of that is actually true.”

“Not a lot, I’m guessing. He wants to know what Darhk’s up to, but its not so he can help us. It’s hard to play for both sides if you don’t know what they’re both up to.”

“That’s true. Cisco said Caitlin was testing your powers. How’d that go?”

“Badly. I can’t grow the way I want. I can’t hold an enlarged form for any useful length of time. The only upside is my growth spurts seemed to have stopped.” She said. “We’re back at square one.”

“It’s not that bad.”

“Oh, its that bad.”

 

Darhk was planning his attack on Metropolis. Malcolm hadn’t been specific about which hospital was so special that it could help Felicity, so he had to find a way to infiltrate every hospital in the city to find out where Oliver had taken her. He was trying to decide which ICU nurse at Metro Memorial was the easiest to blackmail when one of the Ghosts came into the room.

“What?”

“The Green Arrow’s been spotted nearby.”

“And?” The Green Arrow was on Darhk’s list of problems to be dealt with, but he wasn’t highly ranked. First, Darhk needed to capture Felicity, then get rid of Oliver Queen and finally, recruit Giganta. After all of that was done, Damien would worry about killing the Green Arrow.

“You wanted to be kept informed of his movements.”

“Yeah, before I found out a tech CEO could punch through walls. He’s not a big deal. So, unless Giganta’s spotted with him, wait until he does something significant before racing to tell me. Was Giganta with him?”

“No, she wasn’t. She hasn’t been spotted in a few weeks.”

“Has it been that long? Interesting.”


	42. Chapter 42

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Felicity gets her powers under control and HIVE plots.

Felicity and Oliver stayed at Star Labs for another two days. During that time, Felicity tried as hard as she could to get her powers under control and for her body to respond the way she needed it to. Oliver watched Felicity try, and in most cases, fail to expand the way she used to and the way she wanted to. After one particularly bad failed attempt, he approached her before she could try again.

“How are you doing?”

“Were you not paying attention?” She asked.

“I don’t mean with this. I mean in here.” He tapped her on the forehead.

“Not great either. I keep failing at the one thing I’m supposed to be good at.” She growled.

“It’s not though. You’re Giganta, you can grow to the size of a skyscraper, but that isn’t the only thing you’re good at. It’s not the only value you have.” He said. “Let’s pretend like you aren’t trying to grow, like you’re not even Giganta. How are you feeling?”

“Angry, scared. Someone tried to kill us Oliver. HIVE tried to kill me, Darhk tried to kill me. Twice. In the same day.” She said. “Every time I close my eyes, I’m back in that limo and there are bullets flying past me. I, we both, survived, but what if we hadn’t? What if the effects were worse? What if the shooting made me go atomic?” She took a deep breath. “I need to get my powers back in order. I need to be able to protect myself and everyone else from HIVE. Star City doesn’t need Felicity Smoak right now, it needs Giganta.” Oliver’s face turned into a big smile. “What?”

“Nothing. Why don’t you try one more time?” Felicity’s powers were connected somewhat to her feelings. She’d vented to Caitlin about her frustrations about being Giganta, but hadn’t told her, or anyone, her feelings about the shooting that happened. it was a lot of emotional trauma to carry alone. He was hoping that she might be able to control her powers a little better now that she’d gotten some of those things off of her chest.

“Fine.” She took a deep breath and focused on expanding her body. She felt herself start to enlarge. She didn’t open her eyes just yet, but it didn’t feel like she was growing disproportionately or only growing certain parts. After a few minutes, her head hit the top of the Pipeline and she rubbed the spot where they collided. She opened her eyes. “Ow.”

She then looked around. She could barely see Oliver on the ground, several stories below her. She looked down at her body. She was taller and rounder than she had been moments ago, but that was actually a good thing. After all, Giganta was supposed to grow in both height and width when she enlarged herself.

“I- I did it.” She said. She heard sounds coming from where Oliver was standing, but he was so far away from her ears that she could barely hear him. “What?”

A red blur sped towards Oliver before dashing away. Seconds later, he spoke again. “I said, ‘yes you did. just like I knew you would’.” He said through the bullhorn Barry had given him.

“How did you know?”

“Your abilities are tied to your emotions. We never really talked about how you felt after the attack. I thought your emotional turmoil might be why you were having trouble.” He said.

Unlike during her prior attempts, Felicity didn’t feel like she was forcing her body beyond its limits. It didn’t feel like she needed to focus completely on staying this size. It felt natural again. She took another deep breath and shrunk back down to her normal size.

“Well, now I feel kinda dumb.”

“Why?”

“The problem was all in my head.”

“I didn’t go out as the Hood for six weeks because of how my first encounter with Malcolm went.” He admitted. “The issue being psychological doesn’t make it less of an issue.”

“I think we should go back to Starling tomorrow.” She said after a few minutes of silence.

“You sure?”

“Yes. We need to stop Darhk. We need to figure out what he’s up to.” She said. “He’s been quiet lately and I don’t like it.”

“He tried to kidnap you. That’s not exactly laying low.” Oliver argued.

“The Ghosts have gone quiet too. Unless a lot has changed, he’s still trying to destroy the city. Things being quiet on that front worry me. It means his plans are working and we’re not stopping them. We need to stop him.”

 

Oliver and Felicity returned home the next day. The Palmer Tech board was surprisingly nice to her when she came into the office, but she was pretty sure that was because the board being mean to a CEO that had just survived a murder attempt wasn’t exactly good publicity. Or maybe a few of them were actually happy she was safe. Either way, the shooting kept them off her back for a few days.

Their return made the news and Oliver made a short speech thanking the citizens for their support and for respecting their privacy. He ended the speech by promising to find and prosecute the people responsible for the shooting to the fullest extent of the law.

Darhk and the other high-ranking HIVE members watched the press conference with a casual indifference. Oliver Queen hadn’t been able to thwart them before, they doubted he could suddenly do it now.

“Well, at least that answers that.”

“How are you still so smug and so calm? Your plan didn’t work.” One of the others asked. “They’re both still alive.”

“Not to mention Queen has gained even more support since the shooting.” Ruve added.

“To be fair, he is running unopposed.”

“Not for long.” She said before walking off.

“Still, I don’t understand how their survival, him exposing us, any of it, is good.”

“It’s not. But Giganta can still be swayed, under the right conditions, to join us. His fiancé, who broke through grenade-proof glass like it was tissue paper, is back in town where we have plenty of resources at our disposal.” Darhk said. “And now, we know she can heal quickly as well. Another advantage we’ll gain when we finally learn how she developed enhanced strength. When the Ghosts are enhanced, we’ll be unstoppable.”


	43. Chapter 43

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Giganta makes a reappearance in Starling.

Felicity was apprehensive about going back into the field the day after she and Oliver returned to town, but she also realized it was the right thing to do. Who knew what HIVE and Darhk had been up to while they’d been away? Darhk clearly paid attention during his time in the League since he’d managed to operate completely in the shadows until he came to Star City.

“So, who’s pairing up with who?” She asked the rest of the team as they were gathered in the lair.

“What do you mean?” Thea asked.

“Who’s heading out with who? Is it gonna be you, me and Laurel and the boys go off on their own with Ray staying her to run the comms? Me and John , while you two go with Oliver? What’s the breakdown here?” She answered. Ray had been running the comms while Oliver and Felicity were in Central City. After his own run in with HIVE, he’d been reluctant to put on the ATOM suit again, terrified of what they wanted to use his tech for.

“You want- don’t you think it’s a little early to be going back out into the field?” John asked. “You were shot not that long ago.”

“Really? I’d completely forgotten about that.” She said, sarcastically. “I’m fine. I’m healed. My powers are back to 100%. I want to get back out there, I need to.”

“Maybe you should stay here, just for tonight.” Oliver suggested. “We’re just trying to figure out what the Ghosts are up to. We don’t need all hands on deck.”

“I think we do. HIVE is pretty awful. And wouldn’t you agree that five heads are better than four?” She knew what was happening. Oliver was trying to protect her. The shooting had scared him and he foolishly thought that if she never saw Dahrk or HIVE again that she’d be safe. It was a nice theory, if it wasn’t completely delusional.

“Fine.” Oliver caved. “Thea, Laurel, you go with John. I’ll go with Felicity.”

The group split up and went to patrol different parts of town. The others ran into some trouble, nothing they couldn’t handle, while Oliver and Felicity stumbled upon something much more interesting going on.

HIVE seemed to be building a new base. Their last one had been compromised when ‘the Green Arrow’ infiltrated it to save Oliver, Felicity, Thea and John after they were taken at Oliver’s campaign holiday party.

“I should just grow and squash the whole building with my foot.” She muttered.

“What?”

“You heard me.”

“There could be people inside. Innocent people.” He told her. Her attitude was a little jarring for him.

“I know, which is why I haven’t done it. I want to squish Darhk and everyone working for him like insects, but I know I can’t.” She said. “But I know not everyone’s following him willingly. How many people were coerced like Andy or Lance?”

“Ok, good.” He responded. “What’s the plan?”

“I say we break up this little party they’re having, maybe see what they’re up to down there.” She suggested.

They moved off of the roof they were perched on and crept closer to the Ghosts that were working. Oliver fired a magnetic arrow at the ground, relieving the men of their guns and announcing their presence to them.

 Before others could move in, Felicity grew to about eight feet tall and started fighting the reinforcements while Oliver dealt with the now unarmed guards. Felicity didn’t have the same martial arts training that Oliver did, but she was impossibly strong. Her size made her difficult to contain or use against her. She’d taken to learning wrestling moves in her spare time as a form of training. Her logic was that all she needed to do was knock someone down and make them stay down. She had just finished beating her last opponent when she heard slow-clapping coming from behind her.

“That was certainly impressive.” Darhk said as he moved towards her. Oliver was still fighting off a few Ghosts and noticed Darhk’s arrival but couldn’t do anything about it. “You’ve been rather quiet for the last few weeks. I was starting to think you died.”

“I’m not that easy to kill.”

“Everyone thinks that. They’re usually wrong.” He countered. “I don’t suppose you’ve reconsidered my offer.”

“Oh, there’s no way in hell I’d join you. Not after what you did to Felicity Smoak.” Felicity was glad that when she grew, her vocal chords also changed. Her voice deepened when she was larger, so no one could recognize her voice.

“A friend of yours, I’m guessing. That makes sense, you can change your size at will, she can punch through concrete. Unique people tend to gravitate towards each other. I didn’t want to do that, but I didn’t have a choice.”

“Aren’t you the leader of this weird cult?” She asked. “How did you not have a choice?”

“Her fiancé is a thorn in my side. I needed him out of the way. She was just-.”

“Collateral damage.” Felicity scoffed. “You know, you really are a piece of work.”

“Why, thank you. Nice of you to join us, Green Arrow.” He said as Oliver walked over to them. Oliver nocked an arrow and fired it at Darhk, who changed its trajectory with his magic. “How many times are you going to do that before you learn it’s pointless?”

“As many times as it takes me to stop you.”

“That doesn’t even make sense.” Darhk argued. “In any case, thank you.”

“For what?”

Several more Ghosts exited the building, armed to the teeth. “For this. I’ve been trying for a long time to capture Giganta. And thanks to you bringing her here, now I have.”


	44. Chapter 44

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Darhk tries to capture Giganta and gets a lucky break.

“In any case, thank you.” Darhk told Oliver.

“For what?”

Several more Ghosts exited the building, armed to the teeth. “For this. I’ve been trying for a long time to capture Giganta. And thanks to you bringing her here, now I have.” They began to surround the pair. “You know, recently, you were pretty low on my list of problems to deal with. I was gonna take care of you after I’d dealt with Oliver Queen, his fiancé and Giganta. Thanks to you being unbelievably predictable, I guess I can just cross that off my list now.” He smirked. “Kill him.”

Three Ghosts raised their weapons. Felicity threw a hand out, which knocked at least six Ghosts several yards away. She then started batting the other Ghosts away from them.

“You know that won’t work, right? You can knock them down, even kill them. I’ve got plenty more I can send to replace them.”

“What do you want from me?” She asked.

The Ghosts stood and got ready to attack, but Damien signaled for them to stop. “I wanna see what makes you tick. What’s going on inside your body. You’re an anomaly. I like learning about anomalies.”

“Yeah, you wanna see ‘what makes me tick’ just to fulfill your own curiosity. For science. Sure.” She said sarcastically. “You don’t have some nefarious plans if you manage to do that.”

“Not if. When.” He said. “And I never claimed I didn’t have another angle. You don’t want to join me. It’s unfortunate, but not surprising. Still, if you won’t join me, I’ll just have to make someone like you who will. I need your abilities, I don’t need you.”

“You won’t be getting either.” Oliver said.

“You aren’t even involved in this conversation, don’t interject yourself.” Darhk said, not looking away from Giganta. “And yes, I will.”

The Ghosts attacked again, this time focused on Oliver. Not seeing a better option, Felicity picked several of them up and tossed them into the bay. She could see them flailing around, so she knew she hadn’t killed them to her relief.

While she was doing that, Darhk closed his eyes and began chanting in some unknown language. Oliver thought he was trying to perform a spell and fired several arrows at him, which he stopped. Felicity started to feel a strange tingling sensation in her arms, but it was easy enough to ignore. She also felt herself get smaller, but it wasn’t by a large factor. She went from being fifteen feet tall to a little over twelve feet if she had to guess. Darhk opened his eyes and was surprised to see that his spell, which was meant to shrink Giganta down to a human size and make her unable to grow, hadn’t worked.

“Can I ask you something? And this is a legitimate question, but are you even human?” He wondered aloud.

“Yeah, I’m just magic-proof.” She said before tossing him into the bay with his soldiers. One of the Ghosts then got a lucky shot in, and a bullet grazed her hand. She batted him away before picking up Oliver and walking away. When they were far enough from HIVE’s base, she put her fiancé down and shrunk back down to her normal size.

Oliver saw that she was cradling her hand. “You okay?”

“I think one of the Ghosts’ bullets grazed me.” She said. “Oh frack.”

 

Darhk pulled himself out of the water and glared at the failures he had for soldiers. They outnumbered the Green Arrow and Giganta by dozens, yet they weren’t able to capture her or kill him. Why was it that his men suddenly couldn’t perform basic tasks. Many of the Ghosts knew he wasn’t happy and anxiously waited for the outburst they knew was coming. Several of them were probably going to die tonight.

He stormed over to the few Ghosts that hadn’t been thrown into the water to see what excuses they would give him about why they failed.

“Well?”

“They both escaped. We didn’t have the number necessary to-.”

“You failed. That’s shocking.” He deadpanned. He lifted a hand and drained the Ghost that had spoken of his life force. He didn’t like failure and he hated excuses. When that one fell, he turned to the next one. “Anything you wanna add?”

“We weren’t able to stop them, sir, but I was able to-.”

“Able to what?”

“I hit Giganta in the hand with a bullet.”

“You shot her in the hand?” He asked, sounding displeased. Then, it hit him. “You shot her in the hand.” He said in realization. “Meaning she bled.”

“Yes, sir.” The Ghost responded. He pointed over his shoulder to the spot on the pavement where the blood had landed. There wasn’t a lot of blood, but there was enough to analyze.

“Congratulations, you get to live.” The Ghost went inside while four of the others were killed by Darhk for their failure. Darhk ordered one of HIVE’s scientists to collect Giganta’s blood sample and analyze it.

The scientist wasn’t able to give them the identity of Giganta. Whoever she was, they didn’t have a sample of her DNA to match it to, but they were able to detect anomalies in her cells. It was the start of understanding how her body worked.

“I should’ve just tried to get her blood, not wasted time trying to recruit her.” Darhk remarked. “And the radiation?”

“Her cells give off a radioactive signature, just like a nuclear weapon. Yet it doesn’t seem to harm her.”

“So she’s a walking nuke. Fantastic.  Now, we just need to make our own version of her.”


	45. Chapter 45

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> HIVE tries to recreate the results of Felicity's accident.

Oliver saw that she was cradling her hand. “You okay?”

“I think one of the Ghosts’ bullets grazed me.” Felicity said. “Oh frack.”

“Oh frack? Why do you say that?”

“I got shot, meaning I bled. Meaning-.”

“They have your DNA now. They know who you are.”

“No, they don’t. They can’t figure out who I am because they don’t have another sample to compare it to. ARGUS had all of my bloodwork at the hospital destroyed. For once I’m glad Amanda Waller’s super paranoid.” She said. “But figuring out my identity isnt the only thing they could do with my blood. They could weaponize it. Or use it to reverse-engineer…well, me.”

“What?”

“If they can figure out what makes my blood unique, my physiology unique, they could hypothetically use it to recreat the accident that made me Giganta. Maybe, I need to consult Team Flash and Ray about it.” She said.

“Why are we still here talking then?” Oliver asked. They raced back to the bunker.

 

At the docks, Darhk watched one of HIVE’s scientist collect Giganta’s blood. “I should’ve just tried to get her blood, not wasted time trying to recruit her.” He remarked. “And the radiation?”

“Her cells give off a radioactive signature, just like a nuclear weapon. Yet it doesn’t seem to harm her.”

“So, she’s a walking nuke. Fantastic.  Now, we just need to make our own version of her.” He said with a smirk. “Imagine how effective an army of Gigantas will be. Get to work.”

 

When Oliver and Felicity got back to the lair, she immediately dragged Ray over to one of her computers so they could have a video chat with Team Flash. She hurriedly explained everything that had happened at the docks and what she thought Darhk might be planning. Everyone was, appropriately, concerned. While they were debating the chances of Dahrk being successful with only a small blood sample, Oliver made a call. He knew Felicity wouldn’t be happy, but ARGUS needed to be aware of what was going on. Cisco was explaining how Felicity’s blood compared to a normal human’s when he came back into the room.

“Waller’s been notified.”

“What?”

“I had to tell her. Ten of us isn’t going to be enough and they have resources we don’t.” He defended. “She’s repositioning one of ARGUS’s satellites as we speak. It’s designed to monitor radioactivity levels and locate their sources.”

“That’s great, except I’m a walking source of radioactivity.”

“I’m sure they have a way of adjusting the sensors with you in mind.” Digg said.

 

Six hours after he almost captured Giganta, Darhk was already annoyed by the lack of progress the scientists were making. “You’ve had her DNA for hours. How long does it take to figure out what happened?”

“The radioactive signatures in her blood make analyzing it…..difficult.” The main scientist said. “We run the risk of contaminating, or worse destroying, the sample if we try too many tests at once.”

“Can you at least tell me how she came to be radioactive?” He asked in an annoyed tone.

“Her body absorbed a massive amount of nuclear radiation. Enough to kill her several times over.” He hypothesized. It was the only somewhat logical explanation they had. “But instead of killing her, the energy became locked in her cells.”

 “And her growth?”

“When the energy is released, she grows and her cells expand. Pushed far enough, she’d explode.”

“It took you six hours to be able to tell me that?” He mocked before walking out of the room. A lethal dose of nuclear radiation created Giganta. It should be able to do the same to one of the Ghosts. Getting his hands on radioactive material wasn’t as difficult as one would think. Weapons-grade uranium wasn’t that difficult to find. He locked five Ghosts in a sealed room with the uranium and waited to see what would happen. All five died relatively quickly of radiation sickness. The doctors analyzed their corpses and found their blood wasn’t anywhere close to Giganta’s.

“Back to the drawing board then.” Clearly, simple exposure wasn’t enough.

The following day, a scientist suggested that perhaps she was hit by a more targeted and concentrated dose of radiation, like some kind of death ray, rather than just simple exposure. Darhk mocked the idea of a death ray, but tested the idea with similar results.

As days wore on, HIVE started running out of ideas for how Giganta could’ve been created. Her blood sample was so tempermental that they could do very little experimentation with it. The body count grew with Darhk’s frustration at hitting dead end after dead end. Every test ended the same, with the test subjects succumbing to radiation sickness within a few hours and dying.

The problem, of course, was that HIVE had it backwards. They believed Giganta grew because she was radioactive and she needed to expand in order to reach critical mass. In reality, her radioactivity was a result of her large size and her atoms expanding to the point of almost splitting apart. They believed some quirk of her DNA helped her survive, when it reality the nanites in her cells changed her genetic makeup to ensure her survival.

HIVE had no idea how far off the mark they were, and continued to try and fail to replicate Felicity’s accident. ARGUS wasn’t able to find their new base, however, because the radioactive levels didn’t stay consistent long enough for them to pinpoint a location in the city. All they knew was that HIVE’s headquarters was located somewhere on the western side of the city, near the bay.

“How is it you all are so incompetent?” Darhk asked as he stormed into the lab after another failure. “I asked for one thing: create another Giganta. We have her DNA, we should be able to reverse-engineer her. Yet for some reason, you keep failing.”

“Her DNA doesn’t make sense, not compared to normal human blood. She shouldn’t be alive. She shouldn’t exist. There’s something we’re missing. An aspect we aren’t thinking of.” One of the scientists answered.

“Well start thinking. You know how I feel about failure.” He threatened before walking out of the lab.


End file.
